X Men 4: A New Beginning
by RedRogue
Summary: What I think X4 should be like, featuring the arrival my favorite mutant: Gambit... Everyone has to cope with the changes and the choices in the mansion, while fighting for their lives upon the threat of the sentinels. And why is everyone after Remy?
1. To Catch a Thief

**Wrote the first draft of this story before X-2, then practically did a rewrite to suit with the current movie storylines and came out with this. Enjoy.**

-

_Mutants. Times have changed their place on this planet. It is rumored that a war is brewing between these two species. Some have already chosen their sides. There are some that fight for a war, fearing or desiring mutant superiority. And yet, there are some who fight against this, fight for the peaceful co-existence of both mutants and humans. _

_They are the beacon of light in these dark times, and humanity finally begins to place their trust in these beings, mutants and humans alike._

_--Charles Xavier_

-

_Westchester, New York_

Ororo Monroe watched the plasma screen on her desk with a great interest. The news was on, telling her a trip to the South was on the horizon.

"_This master of magnetism is seen here with several other mutants, one confirmed to have telekinetic abilites, wreaking havoc even in the streets outside the New Orleans City Museum. Guards claim that the mutants were after a thief robbing the museum late Sunday night. No motive was given for this new brotherhood of mutants, or their vigilante activities, but their efforts were futile. The thief escaped, along with the stolen items, which included the famous Tigress Jade. These relics are the third group of artifacts stolen from the third museum this month. The guards from the Museum of New Orleans claimed they actually saw the thief, one claiming the bandit was a ghost, another a demon. The question of a mutant presence immediately arose, but the police provided no comment. More mutant updates when we return_."

Ororo shut off the screen and clasped her hands over her mouth in deep thought.

"Magneto," Ororo whispered to herself. "Why does _this _mutant interest you?"

"Professor," Katherine Pryde said, knocking on the door as she entered. "You wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes, Kitty," Ororo said calmly. "The new uniforms have just come in. Be sure to get them to their new owners."

Kitty's eyebrows furrowed, not sure what the new professor was getting at.

"You promoted them? Professor…" Kitty began to protest, but knew better. She had been new herself not to long ago, and so she had no leg to stand on when it came to early promotions. "I suppose your going to want someone to start training them."

"Yes," Professor Ororo agreed with a nod. Kitty shifted her weight nervously.

"I know it's too soon to ask anything of you, especially after our recent tragedies…"

Ororo gulped and flexed her jaw. Everyone avoided that subject ever since the memorial for Jean, Scott, and the first Professor, Charles Xavier, especially around her. Kitty was right though; it _was_ too soon.

"I already asked someone else to give them their necessary field experience training," Ororo said casually, going back to her mounds of work.

Kitty was suspicious.

"May I ask who?"

-

Logan had all his senses on alert, claws extended. He cut his way through the leafy jungle, on the lookout for the slightest movement out of place. When he made it to the clearing, he stopped to smell the thick, humid air. Something was coming.

Suddenly, lasers guns sprouted from the ground, blazing wildly at their target. Wolverine dodged them with enough ease, cutting them down to size when it was convenient enough.

Saw disks shot from the trees, and Wolverine ducked and sliced cleanly like they were mere Frisbees.

He rolled and jumped over a wall, and sprinted for the platform. A laser got his arm, but he just grunted and powered through. A claw came from the ground like a snake, striking at him wherever he stood. He yelled out, jabbed his right claw into the tubed machine, and stabbed his left next and sliced until it fell limp to the ground.

"This is too easy," Logan said, turning to face his next opponent. Then suddenly, the jungle disappeared, and the lasers shut themselves off. The illusion left to reveal the true room, a large metal dome. The guns went back into the walls, until the dome-room took its rightful shape again.

"Logan," Beast's voice echoed through the room. Logan looked up at the control room, where the voice was coming from. "We do not need you to annihilate the Danger Room just when we just returned it to the proper standards again."

"Sorry," Logan said, not sounding like he meant it.

"Oh, and Logan, the trainees are outside waiting for you."

"So send them in."

A nearby door opened and Jubilee stepped right in, the rest of the trainees right behind her.

"We're not going to have to do what _you_ were doing, right?" Jubilee asked. Logan gave her a harsh look.

-

_New Orleans, Louisiana_

The museum was dark, save for the occasional red line of the laser security detection system that was protecting the pieces, and the flashlight of the guard who did his rounds on the hour. As the guard sat at his station, watching television and eating a sandwich, a figure slipped by, barely rustling behind the man. As the comedy track of laughter blared from the show, the dark stranger padded gently on, before stopping in front of a small red jewel in a gold-trimmed glass case. The man smiled and pulled out a single card. The hand of the thief began to charge and glow, then travel up his fingers to the card.

-

Over in the guard's station, a light began to blink. The guard turned and fumbled for the phone.

"Yes, police? Someone has just tripped the security system on one of the jewels here. How many? Oh, uh…" The guard looked at a screen and grew wide-eyed. "_All_ of them, sir. Send all the back-up you got!"

The dark man had just finished placing the jewelry in a small leather pouches, and he smoothly hid them in his coat. Every display case and security camera was broken and smoking behind him, every alarm was off that could be set off. He heard a clattering noise behind him, as the upper window of the museum clanged shut.

"Zut," he muttered, thought didn't sound too worried. He calmly went up to a wall and pressed his hands against it, making it glow and charge. He jumped back and the wall exploded making a new, more convenient exit for him. He went through the opening, only to see several mutants outside waiting for him. Two wore strange helmets, one old, one young, and a young girl with red clothes and dark black stood near.

"Bonjour, mes amis," the thief said, tipping an imaginary hat in their direction. "Payin' ol' Gambit a visit again, eh?"

"We have been trying to tell you, friend, you are in great peril," the helmeted man said.

"You mean, by da police surely 'round dat corner, by da rest of da world, or by you?"

He didn't give him a chance to answer, just took off running. He knew he could lose them easily enough, like he had the other times, but it was really getting old. Everyone wanted him to join their clubs lately. Why him? Why was he so dang popular?  
Sure enough, there were about two- dozen armed police around the corner, along with about five cars.

"Five card draw," he said with a grin, flipping an ace from his sleeve. "Jacks or better to open."

The card glowed as soon as it left his fingertips. The flying cards exploded the first car and sent the police officers sprawling onto their backs.

Then Gambit was hurled upside down, as if God himself had picked him up by his feet. Gambit had forgotten about the telekinetic blond woman that was working with the old Metal Head.

The jewels were then lifted from his pocket by the young woman and laid at the officer's feet in a neat little row.

"What do you want, Tin Man?" Gambit said utterly annoyed at his loot being taken from him.

"Dear boy, I don't want you, but I know somehow who does, and that makes you valuable."

"Il faut que je m'en aille tout de suite. Dat loosely means, Gambit outta here."

Gambit hocked and spit his charged saliva in the blond's's face.

Surprised, the woman dropped him, and he took off running into the night, the police not daring to follow him.

-

Ororo shut off her TV and immediately paged her teammates through the PA. system.

"Wolverine, Iceman, Colossus, Shadowcat and Beast. Assemble in the war room. You're going to New Orleans."

Ororo got up to go, but froze and thought for a moment.

"And bring Rogue with you."

-

**Hope you liked what you read so far. I should be updating weekly, since I'm already almost finished with the story on my computer, so it's only a matter of reviews for me to continue on. So please review. I need any piece of constructive criticism you can spare.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	2. Jumbalaya

Chapter 2:

-

"So, Ororo," Rogue said to Storm good-naturedly. She stopped examining the green gloves that had come with her new uniform long enough to lean over from behind the pilot's seat. "You ever gonna teach me how t' fly this heap?"

"I don't know," Ororo replied. "You don't really come across as the flying type... Maybe someday."

Storm glanced in a mirror to glance at Wolverine in the back, smoking a cigar.

"Logan," Storm said. "Will you put that out? You pollute our very air with those things."

He gave Storm a look, then grudgingly extinguished the cigar and leaned back in his chair.

Storm guided the jet down, landing it gracefully on the still waters of the bayou. After powering down, she turned to her teammates.

"Okay. Let's go over this again. I'm going to go with Beast to look for this guy. You will be…"

"—Letting you do the dirty work while we go off and do our own thing."

Logan received a smack on the back of the head from Rogue for his comment. Bobby laughed at this.

"You'll be staying _here_," Storm said with a strong warning in her tone. "Logan's going to make sure you guys don't leave."

"You want _me_ to stay and _baby-sit_?" Logan said, standing up.

"_Yes_," Ororo replied firmly. "That's what I said."

"Why? I don't have to take this from--"

Beast was the first to explain.

"Because _your_ methods of persuasion, Sir Logan, are indeed a manner this particular mutant would not appreciate."

Logan glared at Hank, despising the fact that he was being told what to do by a hairy animal.

"We'll be back soon," Storm promised.

The ramp of the jet slid open and they climbed out, but as soon as they were gone from sight, Logan went to the screen in the front of the plane, looking for coordinates of the mutant's location. Then he went straight to the door and climbed out too.

"Logan, what are you doin'?" Rogue said from the top of the stairs.

"Finding him," he said, taking a deep breath of the air to find a scent of who knows what. "Like the weather girl and the furball can just go out an track a light-footed _thief_."

-

Magneto sighed in fatigue, when he saw Storm talking to some people across the street.

"Fan out," he told his brotherhood. "If Charles's gophers are here than that means he's close. Find him first."

-

Logan stopped suddenly, and sniffed some more.

"Is that… Jumbalaya?" Logan wondered out loud to himself. "He's close," he finished decidedly.

"You dunno _how_ close, mon ami."

Logan turned and looked at the man, clothed in a tight black shirt and blue jeans, and a long gray trench coat. The white of his eyes was mutated black, and the iris's were a deep scarlet. He was flickering the tips of a deck of cards so that they'd make a ruffling sound, leaning against the side of a building.

"You be…?" he said in a thick Cajun accent.

Logan sniffed the air, trying to get some idea of the guy's life. He smoked cigarettes on a regular basis; that was the dominant scent, among others he couldn't place. The man was more than a bit younger than him, in his mid- twenties, maybe. He was hardheaded and gruff-looking, and didn't seem the type to be reasoned with.

"The name's Wolverine. We're supposed to take you with us."

"Might Gambit ask… where to?"

"New York. There's a school there, and you can be safe with other mutants like you until we figure out what everyone wants with you. We can help you."

The Cajun stood up straight and began to circle Wolverine, as if sizing him up.

"Seem a lot of people want me to join dere groups lately. What if Gambit don't _wanna_ go wit' you?"

"Hey, listen bub," Wolverine said, pointing an authoritive finger at him. "We didn't fly all the way out here for nothing. You're _going_."

"Pardon me while I protest," Gambit said, flicking out several cards and raising them by his face. Logan took a fighting stance too.

"Protest away, Gumbo," he said agreeably.

At once Gambit hurled his cards to Logan and to Logan's surprise, they exploded all around him like cherry bombs. It caught him off guard.

"Oh, you want to play _serious_?" Logan said, grinning evilly and flicking out his claws. "Should've told me that to begin with."

The man seemed impressed by the adamantium claws for a moment, but the moment quickly passed and they both knelt into their chosen fighting stances once more.

Logan lunged at him, but Gambit easily flipped to the side like he was on a trampoline.

"You an acrobat too, huh?" Logan said, obviously pleased. "Now you're making this _fun_..."

-

Ororo heard a loud noise down the street, and her head jerked up in alarm. Something had just exploded, and he heard Logan yell.

"Beast!" she yelled over her shoulder, but he was already on his way there.

-

The two fighters were thrashed, clothes torn and faces singed with black marks, and yet they still persisted with tireless energy. Wolverine took another fighting stance, as did the Cajun, and was about to let his claws fly when…

"Logan, stop!"

Wolverine and the thief both froze.

"Oh, my good lord… Is that _you_, Stormy?" Gambit said in amazement, whirling around, and retracting his bo staff. A large smile consumed his features as he laid eyes on the familiar face.

"I don't believe it..." Ororo said with shock, a smile growing on her face too as they embraced like long lost lovers.

"I'm guessing I missed something," Wolverine said, straightening from his stance but not retracting his claws.

"You're choking me, Remy," Ororo spat out, and Gambit quickly let her go.

Beast had finally caught up, and looked to Wolverine for some explanation. He just shrugged in reply.

"Gambit and I... _know_ each other," Storm said.

"Might I say this reunion is indeed heart-wrenching," Beast jumped in. "But excuse me, I still seem to find myself in the dark."

"You kiddin'?" the Cajun said. "Me and her, we go way back. Like siblin's. Was the one who first taught her how to pickpocket. Became perdy good too. Not as good as _moi_, of course, but…"

"So is he coming with us or not?" Wolverine said, impatiently, finally feeling comfortable enough to retract his claws.

It was Storm's turn to shrug, and they all looked to Gambit to fill in the blank. Gambit looked at Storm and smirked.

"Where'd you say dis place was again?"

-

**Please review. It helps.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	3. Un Ange

Chapter 3

-

"There they are," Juggernaut said, pointing ahead to the group of X-men heading to the jet.

"Ah, Miss Frost, if you would please?" Magneto asked the blond woman standing near to him politely. The pale woman in white nodded to the older man and casually extended a hand out in front of herself, targeting the group of mutants walking in the distance.

-

Wolverine, Beast, Storm, and Gambit walked peaceably alongside each other, thinking they were home free to the jet.

Suddenly, Storm and Gambit stopped walking. Wolverine was on immediate alert.

"What is it?" he asked Storm, but she didn't answer.

Then, her eyes fell to white, and the clouds above began to fall dark.

"What's the matter? What's up?" Wolverine repeated.

"Logan," Beast said at last. "I do think that it is imperative we vacate the premises as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"I fear that particular storm is directed at _us_."

"Stormy?" Gambit said in confusion. "What's goin' on?"

Wolverine sniffed the air, and looked toward where he figured the smell was coming from. Beast simply peered into the distance and beat him to saying it.

"We have a psychic on our hands."

The thunder cracked overhead, and the air was filled with a static charge. Storm put her hands to the sky, rain pouring from the heavens, and a fog blocking all sight.

-

"What's wrong?" Magneto demanded of the blond. She shook her head in confusion, her eyes squinting in utter concentration.

"I can't get in the theif's head," she replied. "Something's blocking me out."

"Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way," Juggernaut said with a pleased smile on his face.

-

"Magneto?" Beast said in confusion to no one in particular. "What is he doing still wreaking havoc in the world? I thought he had the 'cure' administered to him--"

"That's why he has all his monkey's here doing the dirty work for him. You!" Wolverine said, turning to the Cajun. "They're after you, so you get in the plane."

"Love to," Gambit said as he pulled out his staff. "But Gambit got himself a date. The blond dere, she's a psychic-- she's da one makin' Stormy go berserk. I've dealt wit' these people befo'."

"So have we," Beast and Wolverine said together.

Storm began to lift into the sky, lightning striking the ground around her.

"I shall deal with Ororo," Beast volunteered. "You bring down the psychic woman."

Wolverine nodded and Beast hopped to the side of a building, grabbing the piping and graciously climbing up better than any acrobat.

"You better know how to use that thing," Wolverine said, nodding to the Cajun's staff. "The big one's tough."

"You take o' you, and let Gambit take care o' Gambit."

"Fair enough."

The Juggernaut ran at them full force, and Gambit and Wolverine parted quickly to let him run on through. Emma stayed near to Magneto. A boy barely over eighteen walked bravely up to the front, clapped his hand to his fist, then struck the ground.

An earthquake immediately arose, shaking the floor beneath them, throwing them off-balance.

"Storm!" Beast called to the entranced woman. "Listen to me! Cease this madness at once!"

She replied by cocking her head slightly, which resulted in a lightning strike that hit Wolverine square in the back.

Beast leapt from the building to Storm before she could do any real damage, tackling her in midair, and plunging together twenty feet to the ground.

Gambit leapt over the walking avalanche and past a large round boy whose every step made the earth shake even more than the Quaker-boy.

"Hello, lady," Gambit said to the blond woman, who smirked in reply. Gambit swung his staff like a bat to the woman, but a wave of her hand and the staff stopped inches from her face.

"Nice," Gambit said, impressed, then resorted to booting her in the chest.

-

"Hank?" Storm said in confusion, as she came back to her former self, after they had come crashing down to the ground. Beast quickly got off from on top of her and helped her arise. Even through his blue skin, anyone could tell he was blushing wildly.

"You _are_ a beast," Wolverine commented as he ran past, heading for the jet. All of his opponents were down for the count.

"Magneto's team here's a joke," Wolverine spat in disappointment. "They're not even good enough to be considered practice--"

"--Logan," Storm said quickly. "Where's Remy?"

-

Gambit pulled out one of his special metal aces for the old man in the cape and helmet. He waited for a better reason to charge it, waited for Magneto to strike first.

"You could've had a chance to be one of us, you know," Magneto lamented as he stood and watched. "You could've used your power to your full potential."

"And here I thought I was only valuable to dat 'someone you knew'."

Magneto smirked. He glared hard at the small piece of metal in Remy's hand, extending his hand toward it gradually. The card twisted slowly like a candy cane, rendering it useless.

"If you ever change your mind," Magneto spoke as if he were out of breath. "You know who to call."

"Gambit, com'on!" Wolverine called for him. "Get to the jet!"

"Retreat!" Magneto called to his brotherhood. "Our business is done here. We shall follow you no more," Magneto promised Remy. "As long as you don't follow _us_."

Gambit stood for a moment in amazement at the card, but pocketed it and went on his way.

-

Storm painfully limped back to the jet from her fall, her arm around Beast's shoulders for support. Gambit walked silently beside Logan, thinking before he opened his mouth to speak.

"I thought ya'll said da geezer was powerless?"

Wolverine looked at Gambit in confusion.

"He is—in case you didn't notice, he didn't lift a finger to help his cronies."

Gambit pulled out the twisted card to show them.

"He lifted a finger t' _me_," he insisted. Storm seemed upset by the revelation.

"Could it be possible the 'cure' is regressing?" She directed the question to Beast.

"I visited the boy myself," Beast admitted. "And couldn't help suspecting that the effects could be temporary. When I went near him, my hand transformed as if cured, but when I pulled away it relapsed to its original state. It made me wonder if the injections would do the same."

"If it retracted immediately with you," Wolverine countered. "Why wouldn't it be just as fast with everyone else?"

"The injections could need time to clear your system. Could be days, weeks, months… depending on the dose. It's common medical fact."

They had reached jet then, and Beast helped Storm go up first, and helped her to a seat, then took his own place in the pilot's seat.

Gambit climbed into the plane last, behind Wolverine.

"You can sit here, Gambit," Storm said, motioning to an empty seat next to her.

"You found him?" Rogue said, getting up from her chair. Gambit smiled when he noticed them.

"Oh, mo' muties!" Gambit said to no one in particular, grinning at all the people in the jet in turn. When he got to Rogue, his eyes locked, and she stared right back.

"Un Ange," he muttered under his breath. Rogue blushed, getting a good guess of what he had said.

"_Hello_, Cherie," he continued with a wide smile. "What be _yo'_ name?"

"It's 'sit down and shut up'," Logan said, taking a seat next to Rogue. Bobby, who sat behind her, glared at the newcomer with a sudden hatred.

"So, as I was saying," Storm went on. "The Xavier institute will not only help you develop as a mutant, but also, and perhaps more importantly, as a member of the team. We operate as a school, through twelfth grade, and the graduates are offered the chance to stay on. Colossus and Kitty both graduated last year and has since become full time members of the team and an assistant in the younger classes. Given your age, you would be offered a position as well. Your room and board is covered, and you will be given an allowance of spending money each month."

Storm hadn't noticed that Logan had mockingly fallen asleep, or that Remy wasn't really paying attention to her, but was instead watching Rogue and 'uh-huh'-ing occasionally. As they lowered into the basketball court and into the hanger, Storm finished:

"Welcome to our world."

-

**Please review.**

**Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	4. The Ice Man

Chapter 4.

-

"You're saying you _didn't_ attain the thief last night at the museum?" an old man said, rubbing his chin.

"He was never taken into custody by the police," a particularly round police officer replied. His thick mustache twitched when he spoke, like he was afraid of the older man's reaction.

The old man slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"He got away? With the jewels as well?"

"Last we heard he went with those school people, Mr. Trask."

"No! Do you realize what this means?"

"No, sir."

"Go to the lower levels. Tell them to speed up the factory line. We have to have these things online and ready for another test run by next week."

The man nodded and turned to leave.

"And one more thing…" the older man said to the guard. The man stopped and turned back around.

"Yes, sir?"

"Make sure this walking time bomb is in my custody by then, or it we'll test the machine's on _you_."

"Yes, sir. We'll get right on it."

-

Storm powered down the Blackbird, leaning back in his seat, grinning at Gambit.

"Welcome to Westchester, Remy."

Gambit nodded in reply, and was the first to arise from his seat. As they exited the craft, Rogue went to him, Logan watching her from behind closely.

"If you want," she said softly. "I'll show you to your room."

"Oh," Remy said, scanning the girl down without any attempt at hiding it. "Remy _want_."

Wolverine came between the two suddenly, grabbing Remy's bag.

"_I'll_ do it," he said gruffly.

"Logan, it's no big deal--" Rogue started.

"--Not to _you_ maybe," he said decidedly, then headed towards the door. Remy turned to Rogue and gave her one last wink.

"Remy'll see you later, non?"

Logan turned back with a loud sigh and grabbed the Cajun, and shoved him toward the door.

"Move, Gumbo."

Rogue blushed.

"Guess so," she agreed.

Nearby, Bobby watched this exchange, and folded his arms heatedly.

-

The glass uniform chamber slid closed with a whoosh. As Rogue pulled on her normal gloves, she smiled. No matter how many times she saw her uniform there, displayed with the rest of the team's, she always felt proud. She kicked the drawer under her costume chamber closed. Turning, she found herself face to face with the largest, bluest, hairiest man she had ever seen.

"Ah!"

"My apologies, Rogue," Beast pushed a button on his watch and a holographic image covered his body, making him look like a 'normal' person again.

"Dr. McCoy! No, I'm sorry. I-- you startled me, that's all."

"I understand that it must be odd encountering me down here instead of Dr. Grey."

"It's just... I didn't hear you coming up behind me."

"I see. Will you be joining the rest of the faculty for lunch? I'm headed up there myself."

"Yeah, sure."

She followed him out of the room and to the elevator. As they boarded, she turned to the large man and pointed to his watch.

"You can take off the image inducer, Doc. I don't care if you're blue, and neither do the students."

He smiled as he pushed the button, and became the fuzzy bear that most of the mansion's residents knew him as.

As they ventured upward, Beast looked to Rogue for a moment in sorrow, and it was a look that Rogue wouldn't soon forget. It was one so intense it aroused worry in Rogue.

"What's the matter, Hank?" she asked.

"Back in New Orleans… Magneto… he…"

"He what?" Rogue pressed.

"Maybe I shouldn't be the one to tell you."

"You mean about the 'cure' regressions?"

Beast looked to the young girl in wonder.

"My word, how did you--"

"Don't be so amazed. I'm not developing mind-readin' powers. It's been all over the news."

The elevator dinged and opened up to the right floor, and Rogue obligingly stepped out.

"I see," Beast said understandingly, following her. "And how do you feel about it?"

"Honestly, Hank? I think it sucks. I mean, this was the one place I belonged and now Ah can't anymore. People look at me like I'm a traitor… They just don't understand what it's like… Ah finally know what it's like to do the things people take for granted. And now, once again… I'm gonna be left with nothin'."

"Who knows, Rogue," Hank said encouragingly. "Perhaps you shall have a happy ending after all. I know I did, despite how I was on the outside."

"Happy endings are for dreamers, Hank. Not mutants."

"They _can_ be one of the same, my dear."

-

When they had returned home, Logan had gone straight to the school memorial, bearing the professor's, Scott's, and Jean's headstones. He stood before Jean's, not speaking, but thinking.

He hung his head in despair as he looked at the name engraved on the headstone.

"I miss ya, Jeanie," he told the silent grave.

Despite his constant efforts to stop them since her death, Logan felt tears form in his eyes. Of all the people he had ever known, of all the women he had come in contact—and Logan had not been shy when it came to women— he had only ever loved one. And now, he stood before her hollow grave, alone.

Being there did not help. In fact, in a lot of ways it made things worse. Seeing her name on that cold stone just brought to reality that she was gone forever. He remembered how his heart had been torn at the sight of the waves eating Jean's body away. Both he and Cyclops had cried for her that moment, sharing, for once, a feeling they both understood completely.

And then when she died for the second time, as the Pheonix had claimed her body. He had killed her. His one true love—he had stabbed her through the chest. He had held her to the very end.

"Time's supposed to make it all go away, but so far it's just…"

He paused and wiped his tears away. He would never let her see him cry, and he was certain that she could see him from wherever she was now.

"Every day your face fades a little in my mind," he told the grave. "And I hate that."

He stood up and looked around, relieved to find that he had been alone during his embarrassing confession. He looked back at the headstone. He knew that it was not his fault, but for some reason saying that it _was_ his fault made him feel… like someone was to blame.

"I know you chose wonder boy and all, but I could have made you happy," he said. "I wish you could have given me that chance to prove it."

Wolverine sniffed one last time and walked toward the headstone, placing his familiar dogtags on the tombstone, bearing his name and serial number. She could keep them.

-

"So, Remy, I'm sure you will get along here just fine," Storm said, after laying down the ground rules of the school for him, though doubting in her mind they would do him much good.

"All respect where it's due," Gambit said, putting up a hand. "I don't plan on stayin' long."

There was a knock on the door, and Ororo paused.

"Come in."

Bobby entered the office, still eating a pizza crust.

"Remy, this is Bobby Drake, also called Iceman-- you remember, from the jet? You'll have to excuse me now, seeing as there is another individual coming in today for an interview, but Mr. Drake will be showing you to a room and answer any questions you may have."

Bobby offered his hand, and Remy accepted in a polite shake.

"Hello," Bobby said stiffly. "Well, follow me."

"And Remy?" Ororo added as they were walking out. Remy paused and looked back. Ororo smiled at her old friend warmly.

"It's good to have you."

Remy nodded and smiled, then continued on with the Iceman. They headed out of the office, and started the tour. Remy was only half paying attention, in the back of his mind keeping his eye out for Rogue.

"And this is the dining area," Bobby said, passing by the mess hall. "We use this for the students at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The teachers can either eat in here or eat in one of the kitchens, or the faculty dining area. Actually, we can really eat wherever we want. Professor Xavier never really…"

Bobby paused, and Remy finally paid him some attention when he had stopped talking.

"What's da matter?" Remy said, but Bobby just shook it off and kept talking.

"Across the hall there is the south rec. room. It's bigger than the others, but it's usually the hardest to get time in. Up those stairs are the girl's dorms. The female students all live there, as well as three of the staff members. They're in charge of the girl's dorms."

He turned away from the stairs and faced Remy.

"That's about it for this floor. Any questions?"

"You said dat da girl's rooms right up dere?"

"Uh... yeah, that's right."

Unbeknownst to both of them, Rogue herself was headed down the stairs right then. She paused and ducked back into the shadows as she heard them talking.

"Good. Den it'll be easier for Remy to go visit the skunk-head girl, non?"

Bobby was suspicious.

"Why would you need to visit her?"

"Remy thinks he needs to know her better. She is one slice of _sexy_."

Bobby seemed immediately angered by this.

"Hey, don't talk like that!"

"Perdon?"

"Listen, if you even _look_ at my girlfriend the wrong way, I swear I'll--"

"Whoa!" Remy said, putting his hands up in surrender. "Back off, Icebox. Remy had no idea."

"Well, now that you do, make sure that you stay away from her."

"I make no promises," Remy taunted with a smile.

"I mean it, _Gambit_. You touch her, you die."

"What exactly you plannin' on _doin_', little boy? Now Remy see where you get da name 'Iceman' from."

In the stairwell, Rogue inhaled sharply. She hated the fact that Bobby was so jealous and overprotective, especially that not to long ago he had been doing the same thing to her when it came to Kitty Pryde flirting with him. She hated even more that he chose those words, 'Touch her… _Touch_ her and you die'... Just when she was able to touch people again...

Down below, Remy was still grinning from ear to ear. He had heard her breathe, heard her footsteps, for his senses were sharp. He knew that she hadn't appreciated Bobby's comments; that was one of the benefits of being a low-level empath.

"She seem like a big girl," Remy went on. "Why don't we let the lady think for herself, non?"

Bobby walked on, giving the final word.

"Not as long as I have anything to say about it."

Rogue couldn't take it anymore. She turned and ran back up the stairs, not caring about making noise. Both Bobby and Remy looked up as she ran to her room. As the door slammed shut, Bobby winced.

Bobby couldn't even think of anything to say. Instead, he accidentally iced up the railing he was leaning on for support.

Remy snickered and hopped up the stairs, heading down the hall to the adult wing, but before he reached the top of the stairs, pulled out his staff and knicked the railing, causing the frozen structure to crack and finally break. Bobby, who had still been leaning on the rail, fell flat on his face.

-

**Every time you don't review, God kills a kitten. Please. Think of the kittens.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	5. Carol

-

Moira Mctaggert sat next to her dear old friend, who at the moment happened to be her patient.

"How are you feeling today, Charles?"

-

"Professor!" Ororo woke up with a jolt. Once she realized it was only a dream, she steadied her head and attempted to catch her breath.

"What was that, if I could be so bold to ask?" Mr. McCoy said from his chair across the room, glancing over his glasses to look at Ororo on the couch.

"Nothing," Ororo insisted. "It… It was nothing."

-

Bobby Drake walked towards Rogue's room, and stopped before it like it was a particularly frustrating obstacle in the Danger Room. Only this was worse. He upset the girl he cared about, over something stupid that he had said. He regretted this more than any other thing he had done—anything. He was a goddamn hypocrite and he knew it. It was time he admitted it to her out loud.

"Rogue? It's me, Bobby... you want to, um, go get some lunch or something?"

Although her voice was muffled, he could still make it out.

"No, Bobby."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to. Please, just leave me alone."

Her saying no was _not_ part of the plan.

"Rogue, look… about what I said to LeBeau..."

The bedroom door opened and Rogue came out, her makeup visibly smeared. She had been crying, but Bobby could tell that it wasn't from being heartbroken, but rather from feeling betrayed. There was another emotion that he sensed, that told him that it wasn't the first time that she had been betrayed.

"Bobby, I said go away."

"Rogue, come here," Bobby extended his arms, offering a hug.

"What! You think that you can talk crap and then just hug me and it'll all be alright? Bobby, you must not know me very well."

God, he hated this. Her harsh glare ate his heart out. He just wanted to hold her…

"Rogue, please..."

He tried to embrace her once more, but she jumped away from him.

"Touch me, you die," she sneered, then slammed the door, locking it. Bobby stood outside for a few minutes, stunned and not knowing what to think or say. Finally, he gave up and just sauntered off. She probably was right about needing some alone time. Maybe a couple of days she'd cool off and everything would be right again between them.

-

Rogue angrily turned around and saw a figure on her balcony, leaning against the balcony door, mixing his deck of cards.

"What the hell?" Rogue said, startled.

"He was bad for you anyway, Chere," Remy admitted.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Nothin' yet. Was hanging out in the tree, saw you here, decided to pay a visit."

"Can you visit the outside of my room?"

"You seem upset."

"Gee, ya think?"

Rogue didn't mean to snap at him, but with this guy, she could seem to stop her mouth. It flapped obscenities toward this man involuntarily, like instinct. She felt bad about it as soon as it left her lips, as always, but she had too much pride to take it back.

"No worries, Chere…" he said smoothly, like her rudeness was perfectly normal small talk. "Remy just on his way out."

He suddenly turned and jumped off the balcony. Rogue gasped.

"God--!"

She raced to the railing of the balcony to look down at his landing.

"Oh, God, Remy, are you alright?"

Remy was simply walking away, been stopped when he heard his voice. He tipped an invisible hat her way.

"Oh, that's just part of Gambit's talents, Chere. Many thanks fo' your concern, but he's alright. You give him a call when you feel like a good kissin' fit, no? Den he show you his other talents…"

Rogue stormed out of sight, acting utterly disgusted by the very thought, but inside, she was kind of flattered.

-

"Hey, Cajun!" Logan called after the young man in the halls of the mansion, right before grabbing his collar and pulling him close, before slamming the man's back into the nearest available wall. Gambit seemed slightly alarmed, but more offended than anything.

"What is your deal, huh?" Logan demanded quietly, so that he wouldn't disturb the kids in classes at the moment.

"Remy don't think he quite understands, crazy homme."

"With Rogue. She says you've been following her around like a lost dog."

"Maybe I _am_ a lost--"

"—Shut up!" Logan hissed, slamming his back against the wall again. "I know what you want with her and I can tell you right now, bub, I can get hasty if provoked."

"I can see that."

"Don't provoke me," Logan warned. "You stay away from her, you hear?"

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Remy wondered out loud. "You got a thing for her too? Can't say I blame you, she is a sweet little package…"

Logan glared at the young man, and said nothing.

"Oh, I see," Remy said with an understanding nod. "I almost forgot. _Your_ love ain't here. Yeah, I heard about her. You couldn't protect her. So you gonna make up fo' it by protecting yo' little sister here, huh?"

Logan's jaw clenched, and his muscles tensed, but he held back his strikes.

"Be careful, bub," he warned again. "You're treading on thin ice with hot blades."

"Don't be sad, little man," Remy said sympathetically. "Just cuz I got me the woman I want and you never could."

"Ahhh!" Logan yelled, just as the warning bell rang overhead and Remy found a single claw against his ear.

The children poured out immediately, watching in wonder at Logan and Remy up against the wall. Logan reluctantly let Remy go for the kid's benefit, and Remy replied by straightening his coat exaggeratedly, letting Logan clearly see that he was irritated by him.

"Man," Remy said as he strolled off. "This school sho' is friendly. Remy just lovin' the warm and _homey_ feeling he get here."

-

The entire team assembled later that evening in Xavier's old office, so that proper introductions could be made. Remy was seated directly next to the desk.

The rest of the group had scattered themselves around the room. Remy noticed that Rogue and Bobby were sitting next to each other. They were holding hands.

The violent one named Logan was in the very back, obviously uninterested. Ororo hurried in then, and began the meeting.

"Some of you have already met Mr. LeBeau," she said quickly. "For those of you who haven't, Remy LeBeau is from New Orleans. He will be staying here… shortly. Remy possesses the ability to transmit mental energy and into an object, until the object then explodes."

"In odder words," Remy interrupted. "I blow things up. Mostly dese cards here."

he explained, shuffling his deck.

"He also possesses from his infinite internal energy source, natural agility and a sort of hypnotic power," Ororo finished.

"Comes in handy wit' de ladies," Remy added, winking at Rogue. Ororo cleared her throat.

"As long as you are aware of the hypnosis," Ororo added strongly. "You shouldn't be too affected by it."

"Ororo?" a blond woman said, poking her head in the room. "Am I late? I just finished unpacking…"

"Just in time, Carol," Ororo said with a smile. "Come on in. Everyone, this is Carol Danvers. I called her here personally to help fill in the… _gaps_ in the team."

Logan flexed his jaw, the word cutting him deeper than his claws ever could. He had almost gotten through this day in a decent mood too…

"She has the power of strength, flight, and just about invincibility, isn't that right, Carol?"

"Absolutely, Ororo," she replied with a smile. "I hope I can leave my mark on this place and put my powers to good use. I'm just sorry to come at such a difficult time for all of you."

"When you've stayed a while, Carol," Ororo said. "You learn quickly that _every_ time is a difficult time around here. We just offer a place where other mutants can commiserate."

-

**Please review. No kittens are in danger, I just want to hear your opinion.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	6. Speak of the Devil

**_Dear readers_: I have a confession to make! The deal is, I just got a new laptop, and was converting my old files of stories onto it, when I found this story, revised it, revised it again, and posted it without much thought. One reviewer then brought to my attention that this sounded a bit like another story here on FF, so I went to look it up, and sure enough! Many parts were the same. I came to the harsh realization that I had used the shell of Quing's X3 for my own X3 story about two years ago for my own enjoyment. I then forgot about it, found it, then revised it again to fit the storyline of X4 and the posted it. So thank you reviewer, for bringing that for my attention—otherwise I could have been taking a bit of credit for someone else's cleverness!   
I hereby promise, from here on out, is entirely the work of the RedRogue. I deleted the other story. Updates won't be as fast, but at least they'll be 100 percent original. I apologize to Quing, and also that reviewer. I am the dumbest person alive.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**

-

"All I'm saying, Ms. Monroe, is that you've been under a lot of stress lately. Perhaps you misinterpreted the dream."

"Dr. McCoy, I'm not going crazy. I swear, Professor Xavier sent me a message."

"You watched him die. That's never an easy thing. To top it off, you've been under a lot of psychological strain trying to keep up the dream he left behind. But I must insist, the Professor is very much gone."

"And _I_ must insist, he isn't."

-

Rogue walked in silence through the dark halls, on her way back from the library with a thick novel in her hands she was anxious to sink her teeth into. Her friends talked and giggled beside her, as curfew grew dangerously near and they rushed back to their dorms.

On her way back, she passed Bobby and exchanged a heartless, quick glance, in which only he lingered. The girls giggled again at this, and Jubilee shoved Rogue tauntingly with her shoulder.

"So, Rogue..." she teased. "How's Bobby, huh?"

"I would expect a lot of alone time out of you," Syrin agreed. "What with your cure and all."

Rogue's heart immediately fell. It's what she expected when she got the cure too. Then Bobby began to act so strangely… Rogue was beginning to wonder if she made the right choice. She then thought about what Beast had told her in the elevator. Was it really retracting? If it was, how much time did she have left to enjoy being powerless? She sighed with regret. She wished things were different. She couldn't trust Bobby anymore, so she wouldn't risk any kisses for him.

"I would've expected it too," she agreed. "I just don't know anymore."

The other girls exchanged glances, and sensed it best to change the subject now. Syrin opened the dorm door and held it for the others, then the girls got comfortable on each of their beds.

"Oh, man, did you guys check the new guy?" Jubilee said dreamily, putting her hand over her heart and melting onto her pillow.

Rogue had already dove into her book and had now lost interest in the conversation.

"You mean LeBeau."

"No, _McCoy_," Jubilee rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Yeah, LeBeau. He's so gorgeous… and that accent? Completely hypnotizing, really."

"Don't you think of anything else?" Syrin asked.

"That's part of his abilities, you know," Rogue reminded her. "I wouldn't give the guy that much credit."

"Seriously," Syrin agreed. "He's kind of bizarre. He always turns up at the oddest times-- and did you see those freaky eyes?"

"Oh, yeah!" Jubilee piped in. "Talk about _weird_."

"I know! They're so creepy."

"No, they're downright _scary_!"

"They're beautiful."

Both of the girls stopped talking at once, and looked over at their roommate in shock.

A smile spread across Jubilee's face.

"Oh, _really_?" she teased with surprise. "'Beautiful', huh?"

"Shut up," Rogue commanded, burying her red face back inside her book. "That's not what I meant."

"And what _did_ you mean?"

Rogue put the book down again and sniffed the air.

"Do you smell that?" Rogue said, taking in deep whiffs of the air. "Jubilee... did you set the something on fire?"

"I don't think so..." she said in wonder, staring down at her hands to check for smoke. "Wait, don't change the subject, Rogue…"

Rogue finally pinpointed the source of the smoke. It was coming from outside. She went to investigate, and the two other girls followed. Usually, when smoke was coming in from outside, it meant that someone had tripped the security system and shorted the wires. Maybe Lebeau was doing a bit of sneaking out and found out they had a defensive system at all.

This time, however, the three were surprised to see Remy leaning against in the tree just below the balcony, smoking.

"Speak of the devil," Rogue muttered with a sigh.

Remy looked up toward the voice, spotting his lady on the balcony above.

"Oh, _hello_, Chere!" he said, smoking escaping through his teeth as he smiled.

"How long have you been out here, Swamp Rat?"

"We shall say: 'Long enough'."

Jubilee and Syrin looked to Rogue and giggled again beside her, and Rogue simply glared down at this sudden new bane of her life that was Remy Lebeau. She realized then that all her problems had started when he arrived. He had been the cause of many of them. If he didn't stalk her day and night then Bobby wouldn't feel the need to be so jealous and protective. It was all that blamed Cajun's fault, and now he was listening in on her private conversations.

She turned and herded her friends back into the room, slamming the doors behind her and leaving Remy outside alone.

"Until next time then, Chere."

Rogue then saw something on her bed that she hadn't seen before. A single metal playing card… A king of hearts… Was that there before?

-

"I'm aware of the risks, Mr. President," Trask defended himself with impatience. "But America has the right to decide whether they want protection against these mutant monsters or not. This could be our only way to fight back. Let them choose. Let them vote."

"Mr. Trask," the president said firmly. "I'm not passing a bill to trade one kind of monster for another. What if these things hit civilians in the crossfire?"

"Sir, I assure you--"

"Furthermore, what kind of a person would I be if I allowed mutants to be hunted down like dogs on American lands?"

Trask sighed deeply.

"Sir, at any moment these mutants could revolt, and their abilities consist of weapons far beyond fighting with military defenses."

"So do terrorists. We will address this when the time arrives for us to discuss that kind of matter. We don't go looking for trouble. Mutants are American's too, Trask, no matter how you may not like to admit it. Is that clear?"

"We are not looking for trouble, sir, we are preventing the possibility of trouble coming _to_ us--"

"I said… is that _clear_?"

Trask stood up and looked at the President blankly for several moments. Then, he turned and exited the room without saying a word.

"Gurich," Trask said to his partner as he hurriedly walked down the thin halls of the White House. "Make sure you have everything ready. We're getting him tonight."

His partner didn't even flinch at Trask's rebellion, but rather seemed pleased with it.

"Shall we use the prototype, sir?" he asked coolly.

Trask thought for a moment on this.

"Most definitely."

-

"What are you saying?" Logan said with disbelief, folding his arms and concentrating on what Ororo was trying to tell him. "That Professor is on some island-- _alive_—in another man's _body_? Why am I having trouble believing this? You and I both saw him pixilate into a thousand pieces. Unless this Mctaggert woman has a really good broom…"

"Don't mock me," Ororo commanded, then sighed in frustration. "Hank said the same thing. I thought since you've seen a bit more of what the Professor could do, you might be a little more open-_minded_."

"Alright, fine," Logan humored her. "So the voices in your head told you to go to Scotland and find the dead Professor."

"Why do I even bother with you?" Ororo snapped. "I know what I heard. If you aren't going to help me, I'll do it myself."

"Wait," Logan said, putting up a hand to stop her. "You really think he's alive, huh?"

"I don't have to think."

"If you're asking for my help," Logan said. "I heard Scotland's nice this time of year. You need a vacation anyway."

"If that's your way of saying yes, I thank you."

Logan nodded in 'your welcome', and left to gather a few things for the trip.

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	7. Stupid Cajun

-

Rogue clutched her jacket closer in the autumn wind, waiting for Bobby on a small courtyard bench outside so they could go out together and talk. She had asked him earlier that day and he had agreed with a strange surprise. There were things she needed to say and for him to hear, so she was rather nervous. She liked Bobby, that was certain, and she feared to lose him over a silly fight. She had decided he had acted the way he did because he just cared about her, is all. She was ready to do some serious apologizing.

Rogue felt anxious, and almost feared to stay in one spot for too long, since she had a stalker on her tail now. That darn Cajun. She hadn't been able to get him out of her head all night, wondering if he had taken what she had said to Jubilee the wrong way. It was just what she needed now—to encourage the lovestruck shadow.

"Well, fancy meetin' you here, Chere."

_Speak of the devil_, she thought as Remy hopped over the bench to sit beside her.

"What are you doing here?" she spat with annoyance. "What do you _want_?"

"Remy can think of a few things," he said, flashing her his seductive smile. "At the moment, _you_, Chere."

Rogue rolled her eyes at his blunt honesty.

"Well, ain't _you_ direct…"

"I'm a lot a' other things too. Why don't ya come by my room later and I show ya?"

"You need to get yer head outta the gutter, boy! Look at me."

"I'm lookin', I'm lookin'…" he said, obviously scanning her body again.

"Tell me, did I _smile_ in yer direction? Did I _wink_? Did I do _anything_ to tell you I was interested?"

"Oh, Remy figured it fo' himself."

"Well, I'm glad you came to this place, then. It's a school, and it just might make you less stupid. It's a long shot, I know…"

Remy clutched his heart, as if in pain.

"You _wound_ me, Chere!"

"You want to see woundin', call me that one more time. Why _do_ you keep calling me that?"

"Look it up. You look at in a French dictionary of beautiful things," Remy looked up and waved his hand across the sky, trying to make her imagine it. "And dere be yo' picture."

"I told you before, my name's _Rogue_."

Remy put a hand up in surrender and nodded agreeably.

"Hey!" Bobby called, running up. Rogue smiled at the sight of him, and sighed in relief.

"Sorry I'm so late."

"Hi, Bobby," she said back, getting up to hug him, but stopped when she saw his face. He had noticed Remy and frowned darkly.

"Did I come at a bad time?" he asked coldly.

"I'm glad you finally did." She glared disdainfully at the Cajun. "He was just leaving… _weren't_ you?"

"Suppose I was," Remy said obligingly, getting up. "So I see you by my room later, no?"

Rogue rolled her eyes and walked off with Bobby.

"Creep," she muttered as she left.

"You really think so?" Bobby said. "He gets on my nerves too."

"I'd break his face, if it weren't so nicely arranged as it was."

Bobby frowned again at this.

"Rogue," Bobby sighed. He struggled to speak. Not a good sign.

"People are talking," he managed to say.

"What about?" she asked gently.

He frowned again, and looked to the ground.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you. I--"

Rogue suddenly understood.

"Oh, don't make me gag. I can't stand the guy, thinks way too much of himself, and besides, a guy like that would drop me as soon as he gets me. He's cute and all, but he's too in love with himself to love anyone else, and that takes a lot away from his package."

Bobby took several steps back. His face expressed shock, which confused Rogue and set her on immediate alarm.

"What?" she asked.

"I was just going to ask if you forgave me for the other day."

Rogue's heart sped. _Oops_.

"I never… He…" Bobby began, though not knowing how.

"Bobby, look…"

"You _do_ like him-- Huh?"

"Com'on, get real."

"He's all you've been talking about lately…"

"He annoys the hell outta me, that's why!"

"You spend more time with him than you do me!"

"He stalks me! You think I can _help_ that?" Rogue yelled.

Everyone in the courtyard heard that, including Remy. He chuckled to himself, mentally patting himself on the back.

"Look," Rogue said, lowering her voice. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Fine," Bobby agreed, though he didn't sound too convinced.

"No, not about what I said, for what I'm about to say."

"What?"

"I think we should--"

Bobby's face suddenly fell to sorrow as he began to understand what she was going to say next.

"Don't, Rogue--"

"—We just need to give each other space for a bit, okay?"

"Space? Why don't you just _say_ you're breaking up with me?"

"I'm not, I just--"

"Want some time to mess around with the new guy until you get bored and want to get me back, right?"

"Bobby!" Rogue shouted. "That's not what I meant, so don't make this about that stupid Cajun!"

"First my family, and now you. If you don't want me, just come out and say it, damn it! God, why can't _anyone_ just say this stuff to my _face_?"

"Bobby, stop it!" Rogue demanded.

"You already did!" Bobby replied. "Just don't bother, okay? I should have listened to Kitty. She told me this was going to happen."

Angry tears suddenly formed in Rogue's eyes.

"Kitty, huh?"

But he was already leaving. Rogue watched him walk off, her vision blurring slowly as her tears clouded her eyes. She felt terrible.

She looked back at the Cajun loser, who was leaning against a nearby tree and eavesdropping with no shame. She threw him a hot glare, one that cast all of the fault on him, but he just smiled and gave her a wave when he saw her looking his way, then went back to shuffling his cards.

_Stupid Cajun_, she thought, then stormed off.

-

"Hank," Carol said, bursting into the study unannounced. "I think you had better see this."

-

"_Sightings of these so called 'sentinels' are occurring all over the New England states, and there are even some reports of them in the South. The only hostile actions of these walking AI machines have been toward the mutant population, with futile attempts to fight back. What these menaces can do, where they came from, and what exactly they are looking for still remains a mystery._"

Carol lowered the volume.

"They say most of them are in New York. I think they're heading for _us_, Hank."

Henry shook his head.

"The real war against us has come at last."

"Maybe Magneto was right," Rogue commented. "Maybe we _are_ all going to be slaves for them sooner or later."

Hank looked around the room at the teammates, Carol, Rogue, Bobby, Kitty, and Piotr all in turn.

"What are we going to do?" Kitty was the first to ask.

"Get suited up," Carol said at length. "If they come, we had better be ready to defend ourselves."

Henry stared at the screen and frowned.

"Piotr and Bobby," Henry added to catch them before they left. "Piotr, if you would be so kind as to call our friend Warren Worthington, and Bobby, if you could give our new friend Remy a fitting suit… I think we may need all the help we can get."

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	8. Come the Sentinels

-

Gambit immediately laughed when he saw the glass uniform cases all in a row as they were. They displayed like trophies, like some godly memorial of something he wasn't aware of.

"You guys plannin' on hittin' _outer_ _space_ in dese?" He laughed out loud at his own joke and received several frowns as the team parted genders to suit up in the changing rooms. Bobby shook his head and shoved a spare uniform in the boy's chest.

"Put it on," he commanded. "You can wear one of the new standard ones. You're too tall and scrawny to really fit into anyone else's."

Gambit shook his head in protest.

"No way…" he said disgustedly.

Bobby's expression grew terminal and he turned back to the Cajun with fire in his icy eyes.

"I _said_: put it on."

Gambit's face fell serious as well, like at any moment he was going to accept Bobby's challenge.

"Boys," Rogue said, coming between them quickly. "Gambit, just see how it fits. If you're going to help you have to be part of the team… Please."

Gambit's eyes never left Bobby's as he walked to a changing room and slammed the door after himself.

Carol looked to Hank for his reaction to the younger teammate's exchanges. Warren, who stood closeby, actually snickered and shook his head.

"That Cajun's really somethin'," Warren commented. "What does the government want with him so bad? He doesn't seem too bright. Or too powerful either, for that matter."

Hank volunteered the answer.

"It is my educated guess with past experiences and more or less dealings with the government issues concerning mutants is that there is quite often the instance where there is more to a particular mutants powers than meets the eye."

Carol seemed confused.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Great things come in small packages," Warren explained for her, then turned back to Hank. "You think there's more to this guy's power than we think?"

"Perhaps," Hank admitted. "Then again, this man is a professional thief. It could be possible that he just stole a personal item from them and they wish for it back. Very badly."

-

In the girl's locker room, Rogue pulled on a dark green glove, as the last addition to her suit. She looked at herself in her uniform and smiled. She had been so proud when, upon their return from Alkalai Lake, she and Bobby had been issued the standard uniforms. By now, though, her old one was falling apart from the wear and tear that came with fieldwork. She had been more than grateful when the new orders came in, especially since she wasn't sure people still though of her as an X-Man. She could safely assume that Ororo did, and she was the person with the final say around here.

Rogue headed out of the locker area and into the war room, where Beast was setting up the map. Rogue was surprised to see Remy in the X- uniform. Bobby had given him one of the newer standard black and silver uniforms, probably one of the prototypes they had lying around. It was a body-armor version, all silver up top and a stripe of silver down the sides of the legs, while the rest remained the usual black leather. He had added his gray trenchcoat over it and his steel-toed calf-length boots, but other than that, he seemed to fit right in.

"How in the world do you homme's _move_ in dese things?" Gambit complained, stretching his arms out to test his theory of the clothing's restraint on body movement. "Dey don't _breathe_."

"Shut your yap or neither will you," Rogue warned. "It's better than the smelly rags you were wearin' before. At least now you look half-decent."

Remy smiled at this, obviously pleased at the shadow of a compliment.

"Oh, shut _up_," Rogue snapped, sounding completely frustrated with him by now.

When the rest of the team arrived, Carol began to give her strategies. As she pointed out the current path of the 'sentinels' on the map, as well as their positions, Rogue glanced at Lebeau, wondering why Hank had him join their ranks so soon.

Rogue was glad that the winged man named Angel had made it too. In no time flat he had flown right over to help when they called.

Rogue's eyes then fell to Bobby. He looked straight ahead, as determined and serious as Professor Summers had when he stood in that very spot. She could only guess he knew she was looking at him, though there was no outward indication of this. It was just, usually when she would look at him during briefing he would always look back at her, maybe smile or wink or something encouraging like that.

_Not this time_, she thought regrettably.

She looked to Kitty next. Rogue fought tears at the thought of her and Bobby. No doubt that with Bobby free he'd head straight for Kitty. Why, oh why did Rogue have her powers cured? Not only did the absence of them not do any good for saving her relationship with Bobby, but now she was absolutely useless upon this attack against the mansion. Rogue had never felt so down in her entire life.

"Hey, you alright?" Warren hissed at her.

Rogue nodded, and wiped the wet from the corners of her eyes, then finally noticed through her deep thoughts that Remy was staring at her instead of at the briefing. It suddenly disconcerted her greatly. She turned a little bit away from him and tightened her coat around her. Remy just smiled at this and at last, looked to the presentation.

"Uh, if I could interrupt," Beast piped into Carol's presentation. "I must inform everyone that our guests have arrived."

The team hurried to the elevator and reached the front foyer, where they set themselves up for the oncoming battle. Rogue, Gambit, and Bobby climbed the front foyer hallway and positioned themselves so that they could look out the large front door and see the machine approaching. Beast was in the control room manning the built-in house defenses, but remained ready to come when Carol called. Colossus and Kitty took the front yard since they couldn't be struck by anything the machine threw at them.

Colossus looked to his teammate, Shadowcat, noticing that she was shaking like a winter leaf. Concern furrowed his brow, and he decided carefully on his words.

"Are you... frightened?" he asked the obvious. Kitty snorted as if insulted.

"Of course not."

"Well," Colossus replied, putting his gaze back to the gate ahead of them. "If you were, I would say, do not be... Because I will be right here, you see."

Kitty looked to Colossus with approval, touched by his proclomation.

"Thanks..."

Carol had taken flight and headed out through the window to warn them when she sighted the machine. Rogue sat on the window ledge, peering out.

While they had a moment to spare, Gambit looked to Rogue and smiled broadly.

"What you grinnin' at?" Rogue snapped at him. Bobby glanced over to listen to their exchange.

"Nothin'," he lied with the grin still firmly in place. "Just thinkin' you make a pretty sexy astronaut."

"Huh?" she began, but was cut off as Carol came barreling back through the window.

"It just reached the hills. Coming in fast."

Gambit immediately extended his bo staff, and Rogue leapt down from the window ledge, still keeping a watch on the driveway. She saw something coming up, a large giant robotic being that was in human form. Squinting, she made out the basic edges of it.

"God, it's big."

Gambit came up beside her.

"Well, dey say da bigger dey are…"

Carol was in awe, but somehow still seemed calm and collected.

"Here we go."

Just as the words escaped Carol's mouth, the front gate caved inward, sending shards of metal and brick flying at the two teammates standing in the yard.

Everyone immediately took attack positions. Iceman shifted into his ice form, Gambit pulled out a card and charged it, Colossus's steel plates began to cover his body, and both Kitty and Rogue cocked their fists.

Rogue began to sincerely wish that Wolverine and Storm were here right now.

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	9. The Battle for the Xavier Institute

**Hey again, people! I just realized that my name could certainly be affiliated with the X-Men—and I didn't realize it until now! This was not meant to be, since my name came from a certain hair-dying mishap nickname that stuck, but I am a big fan, so it suits me fine. Anyway, that had absolutely no relevance whatsoever, so read on:**

-

Ororo and Logan ascended the stairs of the large building with unhurried steps. Ororo seemed very determined and walked a bit fast for Logan to keep up without effort. He was too distracted anyway by the large plant and stone sculptures that littered the plain. Scotland, he had soon realized, was a very green place. They reached the door at the top of the wide staircase at last, and Ororo took the liberty of knocking.

"Look's like some psycho mutant experimentation facility," Logan observed, finally noticing the entire building was made of steel.

"Then you should feel right at home," Ororo retorted with a smile.

A tall, thin, redheaded woman opened the door, and immediately the two X-Men grew serious.

"Moira," Ororo greeted with a nod. "What--"

"Please," Moira interrupted her. "You have to come and see this for yourself."

As they followed her, Logan couldn't help but conclude that this woman was spooked by whatever it is that was in the room down this hall. If Storm's dream was right, Logan felt he was going to be in for a wild one.

"Why do you think he would possess someone here?" Storm asked. "Why wouldn't he go to the mansion? Why would he--"

"Please," Moira begged, as they walked down the long white stretch of hallway. "If you have questions, I urge you to ask him yourself."

Logan was slightly taken aback by those words, finally knowing now that Storm had been right all along. Moira finally stopped in the long white hall before a single door, bearing the numbers '143'.

"Prepare yourselves," Moira warned, then opened the door.

Through the door Logan saw a single hospital bed, with a man in it that seemed younger than him. He breathed through a mouthpiece and had wires attached to every limb on his body, with most around his head. A chair and computer was nearby, and light streamed in through the windowed walls.

"Go ahead," Moira urged Ororo and Logan inside.

Ororo stepped in first, rushing to the man's bedside. Logan took a seat nearby, just watching them.

"Professor?" Ororo said silently. "It's me… Ororo."

She placed a hand on the strange man's head, and leaned in closer.

"Can you hear me?"

Then the man turned toward the pretty, young weather witch, and smiled.

-

"BEAST!" Carol shouted into her communicator above the noise the sentinel was creating. "I repeat—GET THE STUDENTS OUT!"

To the left of her, Iceman was desperately trying to make a shield of ice for Carol, so that she could have more time to talk. He grew impatient though, knowing that the others were on the other side, doing the real work. He hoped the Kitty and Rogue were okay…

But on the other side of their igloo, they weren't. The surprises kept coming with this oversized robot. Beams of hot laser shot from its eyes and hands, and some of its sleeping gas had already gotten Kitty. Colossus had readily given her a helping hand, taking her over his shoulder and escaping into the mansion, assuring Carol he would find the students himself and get them to the lower levels.

"No!" Rogue called to Colossus as he left. "Piotr, we need you out here!"

"I'll be back!" Colossus promised, just as the roof caved into the door, separating their sights.

"Rogue!" Bobby called over. "You should go too! You have no power!"

"I can take it!" Rogue argued.

Angel dodged the sentinel's shots with practiced skill, trying to find a weak spot on the giant. So far, much to their discouragement, there seemed to be none. Gambit danced around the huge thing's feet, too fast for the machine to try and shoot. He searched for weak spot's too, but the was no luck for him either. His cards did nothing against the robot. Suddenly, the sentinel set his eyes down on Remy, long enough to run a scan on him.

"Mutant subject identified," it said with a mechanical voice that boomed through the hills. "Lebeau, Remy, male, six foot one, one hundred and eighty pounds, energy based mutation. Apprehend but do not harm."

Remy was a bit stunned at this development, standing still to stare at the thing in wonder.

"It's after _him_?" Rogue shouted to Carol.

"Sheesh, they really _are_ mutant hunters!" Bobby said. "It's only here for _him_! Why don't we just hand him over then?"

"_Bobby_!" Rogue scolded, then winced as a blast shattered his ice shield.

"Chere!" Gambit's voice suddenly called in worry. Rogue then realized a large robot foot was just above her, coming down fast, promising to cause her much pain. She screamed loudly, and threw her hands above her head as if that would save her. There was no time for anything else.

In an act of immense bravery, Gambit lunged himself over to Rogue to shove her out of harm's way.

But darn his trench coat! The giant foot came down on the tail end of his coat, making him yank backward in mid-flight and crash face down into the dirt.

"Subject in sight," the sentinel announced.

"Gambit!" Rogue yelled in sorrow. "Take off the coat, quick!"

But Gambit was intent on trying to jerk the coat out from under the robot's foot, and that was all the time the sentinel needed to reach down and grab him around the middle, lifting his foot slightly to allow him to be picked up.

"Mutant apprehended."

"NO!" Rogue shouted upward. "_Remy_!"

But Gambit already had other plans. He yelled for Angel to keep away from him, as Gambit rubbed his hands together and placed him on the metal hand that held him captive.

"Apprehend dis," he muttered, as the metal began to glow.

"Gambit!" Rogue shouted. "What are you doing? You're going to blow yourself up!"

Angel circled above the sentinel like a hawk, watching intently as the angel he was.

The metal glowed brighter by the second, Gambit never loosing his concentration, then…

_BOOM!_

The explosion was contagious, setting off most of the giant's right arm, and only continuing into his ribcage. Angel plummeted downward, right on cue, catching Gambit inches before he hit the ground.

"Did you plan that?" Angel asked in amazement, watching as the damage continued. Gambit nodded, trying to catch his breath.

"Mostly," Gambit admitted, seeming rather impressed himself. As the robot stumbled backward with each new explosion and blow from Carol, Iceman was ready behind him with an ice wall, tripping the machine underfoot.

"Timber!" Bobby called to the others as the sentinel fell to its end with a large earth-shaking crash, just as Bobby ran clear of it's way.

Gambit sighed and sat down to look at his wounds, blood coming through his coat's underarm and chest as he put his back to the barricade.

"You going to be alright?" Angel went on. "I mean, if you're the one they're after, maybe you shouldn't be--"

"Just a scratch," he interrupted determinedly, so Angel gave up. Suddenly Rogue barreled around the wall, hitting Gambit on the shoulder with a wild look in her eyes.

"Ow…?"

"What did you think you were doing?" she demanded. "Bonehead! You're going to kill all of us. Did you ever think about that?"

Gambit beamed broadly.

"Is it my imagination, or were you a bit _worried_ for little ol' me?"

Angel laughed, causing Rogue's cheeks to glow beet red.

"Oh, would you give it _up_?" she snapped.

Gambit shook his head in wonder.

"I coulda _sworn_ I heard worry outta you…"

"We better get inside and see how the other's are doing," Angel said as he helped Gambit to his feet.

"Is it over?" Rogue wondered, looking around at the damage they had done to the front of the three-story mansion.

"You hear that?" Gambit asked, and Rogue inclined her ear to listen.

"It's a _fat_ lady--" he explained. "She's _singin'_! Yup! Sounds like we done here."

Even Rogue had to snicker at that.

Suddenly the ground shook under them, making them all fall still and silent.

"I don't think we're finished just yet," Angel said.

Rogue spotted Carol lift off into the sky to get a better look.

"I think he's right," Carol agreed, calling to them from above. She finished just as the sentinel plowed through the trees, spotting its fellow sentinel blown, pounded and iced to pieces on the ground.

"Sentinel A down," the sentinel's voice boomed. Then, more of its friends came through the trees one by one, crunching down pines under their feet as if they were weeds.

"Mutants have been pronounced hostile and thus expendable," it said to the other robots. "Prepare for demolition mode."

"We sure got them pissed," Bobby observed.

"Oh god," Angel said in fear. "They're going to destroy the school. There's too many of them… and we don't know if the students are out!"

"Right," Rogue said, yanking off her needless gloves and preparing to go back into the heat.

"I can still do this," she assured herself. "I don't need powers."

Gambit promptly blocked her way, turned her back around and shoved her toward the mansion.

"You get outta here!" Remy commanded her. "You're gonna get hurt!"

Rogue indignantly put her hands on her hips, feeling slightly offended by his words.

"Yeah, _right_, Swamp Rat!" she countered, then tried to go around him, but he wouldn't have it, instead holding her back as more sentinels marched over to them, their eyes glowing red and preparing to fire a good one. Their time was running out for conversation.

"In case you didn't notice, they need all the help they can get, Gambit!" Rogue protested, struggling to get loose. ""I can be the distraction. And who are you to tell me what to do anyway?"

"The only thing you distracting is _me_," Gambit argued decisively. "And I don't wanna keep fightin' and worryin' about you too."

Bobby watched their conversation with disapproving eyes, but didn't speak.

"Decide quickly, people!" Angel commanded, taking flight with a sharp two-by-four in his hand.

"I'm not going to sit aside as a spectator anymore," Rogue vowed with narrow, stubborn eyes. Gambit sensed her determination, and knew there was nothing he could say to change her mind.

"Fine," he said in a low voice. "Den you leave me no choice."

Gambit finally agreed, loosening his grip, and turning to get in a good fighting spot.

"They're coming!" Carol shouted. "Places everyone!"

Bobby took off, and so did Angel.

"Too late for strategy!" Angel shouted as he flew off high into the grey sky.

Rogue was still slightly surprised at Gambit's words, and remained stunned and motionless for a moment, watching him walk out into the open battlefield. Suddenly he stopped, and jogged back.

"Oh, but I forgot one more thing, Chere," he said, as if remembering something important. "I have a present for ya."

With that, he yanked her to him and pressed his lips heavily to hers, making her squeal in objection. But through the quick kiss, a surge of pleasant energy shivered through her spine and body. She was too surprised to object for a moment, but as she began to feel his tongue fighting it's way into her mouth, she yelled and shoved him away from her. Bobby heard this, and stopped in his tracks, turning to see the exchange just as it was over, but he saw enough to know what had happened, and his heart immediately fell. Why did that hurt so much?

"What do you think you're _doing_?" Rogue demanded, immediately wiping his taste off her mouth, just as the sentinel's blasts began again around them.

Gambit smiled as if he was hiding some hidden agenda.

"Might not make it today. Wanted to make sure I did dat 'fore I died. _Au revior_!"

Rogue was dazed for a moment, watching Remy run off, then snapped out of it.

"What? _Died_? What are you talking about? Gambit! What are you gonna do?"

Gambit retracted his staff and put it away, then pocketed his deck of cards. Very calmly, he walked over to the band of sentinels, hands in the air.

"Hey!" he called to it. "Tin Man! Metal- Head! Robocop! Down here!"

The sentinel stopped firing long enough to scan Gambit down. That's when Rogue figured out what he was doing.

"That's right," Gambit coaxed the giant machine. "Look right here. I'm the guy you want."

"Subject in sight," the machine told its friends.

"Gambit!" Rogue called in protest. "Wait!"

"Shoot," Carol said, touching her feet to ground again. "He's _saving_ us."

**-**

**A nice long chapter for ya. Intense, eh? Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	10. Rogue's Power Surge

-

"I thought we agreed not to strike the mutants until we had at least a _hundred_ sentinels, Gurich?" an older, salt-and-pepper haired man protested, rubbing the crow's feet on his eyes. "Ten, even _twenty_ is hardly enough to--"

"Well, that means you're building them too slowly, doesn't it, Trask!" Gurich replied. "God, what am I even paying you for? Your men couldn't even bring him in when we sealed the building down at his last heist—and he even got away with the gems! At least now we actually have _obtained_ the mutant.'"

"Sir," a soldier said, popping his head into his superior's office. "Sir, they got the mutant. They're on their way back as we speak."

The redheaded old man beamed with deep pleasure.

"_Good_. Bring him in as soon as possible."

"Right away, sir," the soldier said with a nod, then closed the door after himself.

"See there, Trask?" Gurich went on, straightening the tie on his green three-piece suit. "I guess it is like they say: 'if you want something done right--"

"Sir," the soldier popped into the room again, opening the door just enough to let his head in. "The president is on the phone for you. Line one."

"Weren't you just leaving, Trask?"

"Mark my words, Gurich," he said as he walked to the door. The soldier held it open for them without any reaction to the present conversation they had.

"I still don't feel comfortable with such rash actions."

"Well, I'm not paying you to get _comfortable_," Gurich replied. "Now go get the machine ready for when the mutant gets here. As you can see--" he said as he picked up the phone and put his finger to the blinking line one button. "I don't have any more time to waste."

When he pushed the button, Trask saw that the discussion had just ended. He left to the sound of Gurich's phony, more charming voice, as he spoke to the president with the guile of a salesman.

"Mr. President! How are you? And the misses? Ah, good, very good…"

-

"He's so weak…" Ororo said to Moira, rubbing the strange man's forehead. In that mind was her professor. She could feel it, a connection between them. He was as alive in spirit as he had ever been, but this shell of a man wasn't. He could barely speak without a considerable effort.

Then Ororo's hip began to ring, and she apologized to them to take the call on the silver communicator.

"Kinda busy," she greeted when she put it to her ear.

"Miss Ororo," Hank's voice was heard on the other end. "We have a bit of a situation here."

-

"I _told_ you that guy wasn't very bright," Angel said, setting off to fly over and save Gambit from turning himself in to the sentinels, but Carol quickly grabbed his arm.

"No, let him," she commanded.

"_Let_ him?" Rogue exclaimed. "But--"

"Better him than all of us," Bobby agreed. Rogue shot him a harsh glare.

"I didn't know that power of yours made your _heart_ ice too, Bobby," Rogue commented.

"Let's just say it wasn't _my_ chill that froze it, Rogue," he retorted back.

They could only watch as the sentinel leaned over and picked up Gambit in its metal hand, and Gambit didn't object to being taken.

There were no mistakes this time. The sentinel put his other hand over Gambit and sprayed him with sleeping gas to prevent any further attempts of resistance from him.

"Mutant apprehended," the sentinel announced, and at last they turned to leave. Gambit's plan had worked. Now the school and the students were safe. Or, more specifically, _she_ was safe, for Rogue knew that she was the biggest reason Gambit had done this. Maybe even the _only_ reason. She wouldn't be surprised. That Cajun was crazy as hell. _And_, she now realized, crazy about _her_.

"Are we seriously going to do _nothing_?" Rogue asked them in desperation. She looked to each of them for an answer, but found none.

"Well, _I'm_ not going to do nothing," she said bravely, turning to march over to the machines.

"Rogue, don't!" Carol shouted, grabbing Rogue's wrist. Suddenly a light flashed from their connection, like a spark from two rocks striking one another. A familiar feeling began to surge through her like electricity, and a familiar sight appeared on Carol as her veins bulged and her eyes grew wide.

Rogue powers had returned to her at last, at full force and at the worst time.

Rogue couldn't scream through the knot in her throat, though she would have very much liked to. Warren rushed to them, trying hard to pry Carol's hand off of Rogue, but Carol mysteriously held firm with her super strength, which Warren was no match for. It was like she couldn't let go, like her body had lost its ability to move on her command. Carol began to shake with convulsions, then screamed in a high-pitched squeal at the top of her lungs. Warren put his hand up to shield himself from the light, and Bobby clamped his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut.

Then, at last, the light faded, and Carol dropped limply to the ground, her hand finally slipping off of Rogue's wrist. Rogue gasped at the release of contact, and panted in order to catch her breath.

Bobby was afraid to go to her, but Warren pulled Rogue away from Carol's unconscious body, his eyes fixed upon it as if he had just witnessed some unimaginable horror.

Beyond Rogue's control, she burst into frightened tears. She hadn't been this afraid of herself since her powers had first manifested back at her home in Mississippi.

Piotr came rushing back out with Beast at his side.

"What happened?" Beast said in confusion when he saw that scene that laid before them. "Did those sentinels injure her?"

"No," Rogue said, shoving Warren aside, making him fall rather roughly to the ground. Rogue had forgotten she now possessed Carol's super-strength. It only upset her more that she had hurt him too.

"_I_ did," she finished through a choking voice, then headed for the house feeling extremely upset.

"Rogue," Beast tried to console the young girl, but Rogue jumped away from his outstretched hand as if it held a bag of mealworms.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled at him, then took off running for the house before she could do further damage.

**-**

**Sorry this one was so short, but as you can see, it is very eventful. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	11. The Mutant Curse

-

"What the hell?" Logan mumbled to Ororo, sighting the half-destroyed X-Mansion as they descended into the basketball court/ hanger. This was certainly _not_ what they had left behind.

Beast came up immediately to greet them once inside the large hanger bay, but he was the only one.

"Hank," Ororo said when she stepped down the narrow stairs of the X-Jet. "I want the story from the beginning. But first, tell me the damage done."

Logan lingered close by, interested in the conversation as they walked across the hanger to the elevator.

"None to the students," Henry assured her, knowing that's what she needed to hear first. "But as a precaution, I sent them all on vacation time home to their parents. They didn't complain, considering it's finals week."

"And the team?" Ororo insisted. That's when Henry grimaced.

"I'm afraid there was a bit of an accident."

Beast led them around the corner of the lower levels to the intensive care unit in the hospital chamber. The sleeping figure of a woman lay in a bed; one they immediately recognized. Ororo rushed to her side to grab her cold, lifeless hand.

"Carol!" Ororo hissed in surprise. "Is she--?"

"She's alive," Henry answered quickly, adjusting his glasses. "But I'm afraid she's in a deep comatic state."

"Well, when do you think she'll wake up?" Logan pressed.

Henry hesitated to answer, so Ororo and Logan knew the answer was bad before he even opened his mouth to reply.

"I wouldn't expect her to _ever_ wake again."

"What kind of an accident was this?" Ororo asked with much shock and confusion in her voice.

"I'm afraid that during the battle," Beast said with regret, as if it pained him to speak of it. "Rogue's powers returned to her. She made physical contact with Carol and she absorbed Carol's life force so rapidly that it sent her body into a shock. Carol wasn't able to let go. If she had held on for even a second longer, she would surely be dead. It's a miracle she's still alive now, to be quite frank."

"I don't understand," Ororo persisted. "Rogue had the cure. How could she _absorb_ _any_one? Even Magneto isn't getting his powers back all at once."

"There may have been another factor involved," Henry guessed. "An epidemic through inhibited neural fronts."

"Meaning?" Logan asked with impatience. Ororo was the one to explain.

"He means Rogue's powers must have had a jump start by an energy source."

"What energy source?" Logan said quickly. "What the hell kind of energy source could Rogue have--"

Logan cut himself off in mid-sentence and looked directly at Henry. Henry simply nodded back, confirming that Logan was now on the same page as him. Logan began to pace, his fists clenching in anger.

"I'm going to kill him," Logan vowed. "I gave him fair warning. That Cajun has a _death_ wish!"

"I'm afraid someone might have, as they say, 'beat you to the punch', Logan," Henry added in. "Those machines have taken Remy and for all we can assume the man is dead already. God only knows what they want with him."

Logan stopped pacing to think.

"What, you don't know?" Logan asked Henry.

"Pardon?" Henry asked, looking at Logan in wonder.

"Think about it, Smart Guy," Logan commanded. "Gee, what in the world could the government want with a mutant whose power is an unlimited energy source?"

Ororo's head jerked up with surprise.

"He's right!" she exclaimed. "Oh, God."

"Now you're the one playing catch up, I see," Logan said to Ororo. She shook her head frantically.

"No, you don't understand…" she insisted.

"What is it?" Henry asked with concern, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Around the time when I met Remy, his powers began to vastly increase beyond his control. So he went to this DNA scientist for help. I remember Remy telling me about the scientist placing some sort of magic blocker in his head so that his powers could never increase above a certain extent. If that blocker was ever removed…"

"What would happen?" Logan asked. Ororo looked at Logan in all seriousness, and said:

"Well, he'd make for the first walking talking _nuclear warhead_."

"So basically, the world gets blown up, we all die…" Logan said with a sigh. "Well, one never said it gets _boring_ around here."

-

"Rogue?" Bobby said, lightly knocking on the door outside of her room. "Are you in there?"

There was no answer. Bobby sighed his frustration.

"I hope your decent, cause I'm coming in."

He peeked open the door just enough to let his head in, and scanned the room. She was nowhere to be found.

Yet for some reason, Bobby ventured inside. The room was eerily silent, and brightened only by the sun streaming through the glass doors of the balcony.

There Rogue was, hovering Indian style above the marble balcony floor using her newly acquired powers, staring off into the distance as one would when searching for answers.

"Are you… okay?" he said lamely.

Still she did not reply.

"Look, no one blames you--" he began, but she cut him off.

"And why not?" she snapped, as her voice choked on the words. "It's my fault, isn't it?"

Bobby doubled back, not knowing what to say. Rogue sniffed, her eyes fixed on the horizon.

"Carol's hooked to a heart monitor, an IV, _and_ a respirator, within an inch of her life," Rogue explained to him. "Remy sacrificed himself to save all of us and who knows what they're doing to him at this very moment, and all we're doing to thank him is letting him rot out there. No, Bobby, I am NOT okay."

Bobby reached up to the hovering Rogue and encouragingly grasped her hand in his. Rogue looked to her ex with wonder. The familiar warmth of his hand on hers was enough to warm even the coldest heart. She had forgotten how perfectly his hand fit in hers.

"He'll be fine," he promised her.

"What makes you so sure?" Rogue's voice fell calm to match his.

"Well, hell, he's my _brother_."

Rogue's body suddenly came crashing to the ground in her surprise. She struggled to get upright again in a hurry.

"_What_?" Rogue demanded. "Since when?"

Bobby shrugged, and helped her to her feet.

"He's just a half-brother. Well, not even that. His adoptive father, Jean Luc, he slept with my mom, that's all. Nine months later, out I come. Remy found me and told me when I was eleven. Then he visited on weekends-- Just enough to really get on my nerves… Then he joined some guild and got really busy, and I never saw him again until we found him that day."

"Well, that explains a lot," Rogue admitted. "Is that why you hate him so much? Because of what his father did? Or because he abandoned you?"

"That wasn't his fault," Bobby defended. "I hate him for who he is. A liar, a cheat, and a thief. That's why I got so mad when you took an interest in him, Rogue. I guess I was trying to save you in the only way I knew how."

"That's sweet," Rogue complimented. "But I can take care of myself."

"We all need some help from time to time, Rogue."

Rogue squeezed Bobby's hand gratefully.

"Yeah, I guess we do."

-

Remy awakened to a bright light, blaring down on his face like the sun itself. He blinked back the pain, trying to get his eyes accustomed to it. Though he couldn't see, he could still hear a couple of hushed voices whispering behind him, and only drawing closer.

"Sir, he's awake," one said in a normal tone at last.

"Good. Shut off the lights," said the other, a much deeper and huskier voice.

The blaring luminosity above him shut off at last, allowing proper vision to come. He could see the man, a redheaded older fellow, short and lean with large glasses and an ugly green tweed suit.

"Who da hell are you?" Remy asked him. At this, the man chuckled.

"Don't you watch the news, son?"

"Nah, always da same thing on," Remy replied, not sounding the least bit nervous by his strange surroundings and the fact that he was strapped to a examination table with tough leather binds.

"And what's that?"

"Me," Remy retorted promptly. "And other muties."

"Precisely," the man said, taking off his glasses and looking at Remy closer. "And do you know why?"

"I'll bet you'll tell me."

"Because you are a _menace_, that's why," the man said, ignoring Remy's cheekiness. "Wherever you go, destruction follows you—even those who call themselves peacekeepers. Like that Xavier and all those mutants at his supposed 'school'."

"Dat why you sent dose robots t' blow us up?"

"I sent those robots after _you_, boy. Unfortunately, it will take a lot more sentinels to blow up your little 'school'. Too many of you in one place, you see. Like wolves, you travel in packs, always looking out for each other. When you destroy one, out pops three more. You're a _plague_, don't you see?"

"I'm findin' it hard t' see it from yo' point of view, ya know, _bein'_ a mutant an' all."

The redheaded man frowned, paced a bit, then returned.

"That's what so ironic, you know," he said. "The only way to really _destroy_ mutants… is with another mutant."

It was Remy's turn to frown. He caught on quickly.

"You mean me."

"For a while, the production line of the sentinels were causing blackouts and cuts of powers, over-budgeting, and deadlines lost. But now that we have you, production is up _ten fold_. Then the sentinels _you_ helped create will search and destroy, then gather the real stubborn ones for annihilation… by you again. Doesn't that make you feel warm and cozy inside?"

Remy didn't know what to say. He tried to gather his concentration on charging the binds, but his power had seemingly abandoned him.

"That won't work, I'm afraid," the man admitted. "That light, you see, is taking your energy directly from you and into our production lines. Those wires there, they make sure that your 'gifts' can't go _anywhere_ else."

That's when Remy began to panic, and for once in his life felt completely hopeless. The man leaned close, close enough to make Remy uncomfortable. He sincerely wished he wasn't strapped down so he could pull away from the man's face.

"So how does it _feel_…" the man taunted. "To know that you will bring the _end_ of all your mutantkind?"

Remy frowned, thought for a moment, then spat in the man's face.

"I want my damn phone call!" Remy hissed.

The man sighed impatiently and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his face.

"You disgust me," he stated, staring directly into Remy's black and red eyes with disapproval. "And believe me, it's not just because of your _saliva_."

He put his cloth away and headed for the door.

"I'll let you dwell on all this for awhile," he informed him. "While we go and try to find that blocker in your head, so we can cause some _real_ damage. Try to think of all the friends you've made in that school… and the _goodbyes_ you wish you could have said to them."

Then the man laughed out loud like a madman, cackling in amusement all the way out the door, leaving Remy completely and utterly in the pitch black of the dark, empty room.

**-**

**Not _completely_ true to comicverse, but hey, keep in mind: this is the movies! Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	12. The Jewels

**This is to 'Morgie', so everyone else can skip this:  
**—You reviewed anonymously so I couldn't reply to your review, so this will have to do. Glad you like the story! I'm a huge Gambit fan, just to let you know, and have been since the 90's TV series, and I just wanted to make sure you know that so that I don't seem like a stupid person that likes to make stuff up. When it comes to my favorite characters, I don't like to screw them up.

So, as such, I am aware that Gambit transfers potential energy into kinetic (and thus explosive) energy, but in the comics there have been cases—such as in the _X-treme X-men_ series, when people were able to extract the energy from him against his will, since his body does _create_ potential energy as well, which is how he is able to charge such unstable things as liquids.

I hope I was able to clear that up for ya. Now I REALLY feel like a geek. Go read the story. Maybe I'll regain some of my coolness if you are in any way impressed by it. Wow, that was a long reply. Next time sign in, or at least leave your email. :D

-

**_Read on:_**

-

Rogue hurried down the hall after dinner the next night, feeling anxious to get back to her room to relax after an intense day of cleaning up the rubble that was the mansion. The mansion was a wreck, with gaping holes in the roof and collapsed walls, and random cement pieces all over the floors. It was rather a depressing sight, for this place that had once been a sanctuary of comfort, was now only a ruins.

Not to mention the other students seemed even more afraid of her then had already been before. Ever since the incident yesterday with Carol, every student looked upon her with contempt, as if she had done that on purpose in order to obtain Carol's outstanding powers. It made Rogue hesitant to use them, even to help clean up the debris.

Her room, however, was near the back of the mansion and had miraculously been left unscathed, much to her relief.

As she hurried down the hall, she passed by the guest dorms, one that Warren now took a residence in, the room that used to be Carol's, and then the room that used to belong to Remy. She never realized how close to hers it really was; just a few doors down the hall, really. No wonder he was able to spy on her so easily. It wasn't too far a leap for an agile man like him to hop a few balconies to get to hers.

She almost missed that annoying disgrace of an accent slurring a pick up line. Or that charcoal trench coated figure appearing out of nowhere to get in her way. Right now, she felt she'd give up anything to hear: 'How it be, Chere?' one more time.

She stopped by his room, peeking in though the door that was slightly ajar. It was pretty much like all the other dorms, except the bed was disheveled. Everything else was perfectly in place, like he didn't spend much time living in here.

She couldn't help but snoop a little around his room, for any other trance of him left. There seemed to be none in his dresser, or closet, so she went to his desk. There were pens and paper, left for the residents in case they felt the need to write a letter to home. Rogue lingered in this drawer, after she saw a sealed envelope. It had no distinguishable markings, and was perfectly blank.

Rogue's curiosity got the better of her and she slid her finger along the seal to read whatever was inside:

_Hey Chere,_

_The jewels are in a pillowcase under your bed. They're pretty valuable, if you get me; so don't go giving them to just any ol' body. Those big mean mutant machines that are going to be coming here in a day or so are most likely going to take me back to the Rockies, but no worries. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve._

_--G_

_Ps. They'll never get the best of Gambit._

Rogue snickered at that last part, then rushed to her own room to check under her bed. Siryn was already there and seemed very confused at Rogue's intense search of under her own bed, but Siryn kept it to herself.

"Gotcha!" Rogue said victoriously, holding up the jingling pillowcase in triumph.

"What's that?" Siryn couldn't help but ask.

Rogue replied by reaching in and showing her the bright pink gems.

"Whoa!" Siryn exclaimed in amazement, immediately putting aside her homework to go to Rogue. Her eyes were wide at the miraculous jewels.

"Where'd you get them?" she asked Rogue, these being the first words they had exchanged in two days.

"They were a present," Rogue said. "I think they're really important. I'm going to go have Mr. McCoy take a look at 'em for me. Sy?"

"Yeah," Siryn said, still amazed at the fact that there were jewels under Rogue's bed, and had bent down to look under her own… just in case.

"Tell Ms. Monroe that I found out where they took the Cajun."

-

"Miss Frost, any word on our little friend?" Eric asked his pretty blond advocate. She smiled and looked him in the eye with a devilish gaze.

"They took him back, which means he took the jewels with him and they are now in the hands of the government…"

"No, no," Eric shook his head decidedly. "He may be stupid, but he's surely got more brains than that. He must've left them at the mansion."

The psychic grinned even broader.

"With any luck," Eric went on. "Those Xavier brats don't know how important they really are."

"We must educate them," she finished for him. "After we take them for ourselves, of course."

"Of course," Eric agreed.

-

"So what are they?" Logan insisted to Henry impatiently. Henry sighed in frustration, not liking when people gazed over his shoulder as he worked.

"They are jewels, Logan," he replied. "Now, if you would please…"

"Well, I can _see_ they are jewels… but what's so special about them?"

Henry shoved past Logan to put a few jewel shards under a microscope.

"Excuse me, Logan, there is much to do…"

"Fine," Logan agreed haughtily, heading for the door. It almost hit him in the face as Ororo burst into the room, fully uniformed and ready to go.

"Any luck finding out what the gems are?" she asked breathlessly.

"I already barked up that tree, sis--" Logan started.

"--Yes," Henry interrupted, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. Logan looked at him in surprise and confusion.

"In my research with the government," Henry explained. "They were trying to find an ancient set of jewels, supposedly capable of some sort of regenerative energy. Supposedly there are only two in existence, which we have both in our hands here."

"What's that mean?" Ororo urged him on.

"I'm guessing that there is some reason that these jewels are not supposed to enter the hands of a mutant, which is why it ruffled their feathers so, when our dear friend Remy stole this from them."

"Speaking of him," Ororo chimed in. "That's why I came. He left a note for Rogue."

Logan grew immediately disturbed.

"It better not have said what I think it said," he warned her.

"Calm down," Ororo commanded with annoyance. "He knew he was going to be taken, and he knew where they were taking him to. The jet is already prepared."

-

"Why Colorado?" Iceman asked Angel as they buckled their seatbelts inside the jet. "If I was going to make a base, I would put it in a more glamorous place like Bermuda or the Amazon. Why Colorado?"

"Probably because its not glamorous like _Bermuda_ or the _Amazon_," Angel replied with a teasing smile as he cleaned out the feathers of his wings. "It's less detectable, I imagine."

"We all ready?" Ororo called from the cockpit. "Do we have everyone?"

"Not everyone," Logan said, pointing out the windshield window. Storm followed his gaze to the open door of the hanger, where Rogue was hovering within and gazing to her teammates with a longing look in her eyes. She knew the discovery had been hers, yet she still seemed unsure whether she was still admitted as one of the team. She still felt she was the Rogue.

Ororo smiled and waved her in enthusiastically. Henry lowered the ramp for her, and no one objected.

**-**

**Short chapter, I know, but the next one has a lot to say. Please review.   
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	13. The Rescue

Congratulations! You readers have blown my mind taking this story over 20,000 hits and 186 reviews. Your support is truly appreciated.

-

"And I thought they didn't take care of their _planes_," Magneto said like a father to his wife about destructive children. He looked upon the gaping X-mansion with distaste, shaking his head sadly. Pyro, who stood closely nearby, snickered at the shambles of his former home, and his boss's comment.

"Come along, everyone," Magneto said to his brotherhood. "There is much searching to do."

-

"Sir," a soldier alerted his superior with confusion. "The radar is picking up an unidentified aircraft. Coming in fast."

Trask rubbed his chin in thought.

"What a surprise," he said to himself with cynicism. "More mutants, no doubt. Send out the sentinels to greet them."

"How many, sir?" the soldier asked, a ready comm. device in hand. Trask looked up to his own superior Gurich, who stopped his conversation on the phone to hear what Trask would have to say. Trask turned back to the soldier with a frustrated sigh.

"_All_ of them."

-

Down in a dark underground storage wherehouse, a single sentinel awakened, his eyes lighting as his systems activated. To his right, another sentinel's eyes lit, as did the eyes of the sentinel next to it. And the one after that, and the one after that… Above the hundreds of enormous robots, a skyroof began to open, letting the bright sun into the huge dark room, allowing for a broad exit for them to find and destroy any mutants that crossed their path…

-

"Not very big of a base," Bobby commented as they overlooked the premise of the Colorado headquarters from a well-hidden hilltop. It was barely the size of a remote airport, just a few warehouse buildings in a cluster on a broad asphalted foundation. It didn't seem very well kept either, for that matter.

"Do not be fooled," Storm warned her. "This is the base where they make the machines. They could be housing hundreds in there."

"So who's going to stay outside?" Logan asked her. "I can take on the sentinels if you want… easy."

"No," Storm replied, shaking her head. "_I'm_ going to stay. You'll go with Rogue and Kitty inside to find Remy. He's your first objective, but if you can spare a moment to shut the assembly line for this things down, be sure to do so."

"Good," Rogue said with determination. "I wanted to be the one inside."

"I figured as much," Storm said with a knowing smile. "And with Carol's invincibility on you, I won't worry for you so much. We'll handle things out here. Good luck to you all."

Logan frowned at Storm, appearing worried but he would never admit as much.

"You're going to need it more than us," Logan warned her. "As soon as we've nabbed the swamp trash, I'll call you, then you guys high tail it out of here."

Storm nodded, then took the rest of the team and led them down bravely to the seemingly deserted base. They all knew in a matter of moments it surely not be deserted any longer. Logan turned to the girls left with him, his brow furrowing as if their presence irritated him, then scanned them over for usefulness. He didn't seem happy that he was stuck babysitting them.

"Alright," he said finally. "Stick close and be quiet. Just like in stealth practice."

Kitty looked to Rogue, who suddenly seemed disappointed.

"What?" Kitty asked her.

"I stank at stealth practice," Rogue explained.

"Thankfully that doesn't matter to you anymore," Logan said encouragingly. "Let's go."

Rogue and Kitty followed Logan around to the right, sneaking across the wide plain cement surface undetected. Rogue eyed the other team members who marched up bravely to the buildings, like they were ready to knock on the front door and as for a fight.

"You," Logan commanded Kitty. "Go through this door and open it for us from the inside."

"Why don't you just slash it?" she asked with genuine confusion. Logan gave her a look.

"Oh yeah," she recovered. "Stealth mode. Got it."

With that she phased through the door and for a few moments Rogue and Logan waited in silence.

"You should prepare yourself," he warned.

"For what?" Rogue asked in wonder.

"In case we're too late."

Rogue stared at Logan with disorientation at his harsh, however truthful, words, as the door opened before them, Kitty expectantly waiting for them to enter.

-

Storm faced the broad open hanger building, looking at the gaping hole in the ground as one by one the sentinels lifted out of it, her eyes falling as white as the small snowflakes that began to fall. Colossus cocked his fists as steels overcame his body, and Iceman looked bravely to the machines, though in the back of his mind fear was ever-present. No one knew if they were going to make it through this.

-

Rogue raced down the halls with Shadowcat and Wolverine both running at her sides, until they came upon a fork in the road.

"It's best if we split up anyway," Wolverine assured them. "I don't know how long the rest of them can keep the sentinels busy. Report back if you find something, and I'll find you."

Shadowcat and Rogue nodded to him, both taking the path to the left, as Wolverine ran off to the right.

Rogue watched as Shadowcat phased in and out of doors, searching quickly through solid matter like it wasn't even there. Suddenly, panting with loss of breath, she ran out of one room and pointed to it.

"It's some sort of control room," she explained. "You need to take care of the guards in there."

"Can do," Rogue assured her, banging down the steel door with her fists like they were pieces of cardboard. The guards immediately pointed their guns at her, shooting like mad at the surprise assailant. Rogue panicked, throwing her arm up to protect her face, when she realized that the bullets were falling off her as if she were made of stone. Shadowcat phased through a wall then, behind one of the guards, and seized him by the neck, throwing him into a table. It was just the distraction Rogue needed to jump at the rest, her punches throwing them around the room like rag dolls. All were quickly taken down for the count.

As rogue wiped the dirt off her gloved hands, she glanced at Shadowcat, whose eyebrows had risen with awe.

"Couldn't do _that_ before, could I?" Rogue agreed with her shocked expression. Shadowcat shook off her amazement to pay attention to the monitors around the room. It wasn't a control room at all, like she had first guessed, but rather a security watch room. The monitors were broadcasting the feed of security cameras on this particular level of the building. Rogue tried to steady her rapidly beating heart, searching for the Cajun's face on the screens.

"There!" Shadowcat exclaimed, pointing to one near her. Rogue's heart suddenly lurched her throat in relief. Sure enough, there he was, strapped to a table in a secluded room of white, a large beam firing straight on him. He wasn't moving.

"Is he _alive_?" Rogue spat out with horror.

"I think we may be able to talk to him through here. Hold on."

Rogue caught herself, confused by the reactions in her. Wait… was she actually _worried_ for this guy? She touched her lips in deep thought, remembering the exact feeling of his mouth on hers as fresh as when it had happened. He was the one who had charged her powers back, almost like a parting gift.

Rogue stared at the screen, watching intently for any signs of life from him.

Oh yeah… she was definitely worried.

-

Wolverine raced through the halls, slashing anything and anyone in his path, until he came upon an open room, with cubicles of glass all around. Several workers, men and woman alike, looked up from their engrossing work to look at the stranger who had suddenly burst through the wall before them.

"Is this the control room?" he asked a nearby redheaded woman with thick rimmed glasses, and she nodded back in reply, too fearful to use words.

"Then I suggest you get out," he said, raising his clawed right fist to show them he meant business.

"Except you," he said, pointing his claws to the redhead. "_You're_ going to tell me where they're keeping the Cajun."

-

Gambit blinked under the bright light, awakening but feeling no more rested than a man who hadn't slept in three days after running a triathlon. The light was draining the very last bit of life out of him, and he didn't know how much longer he could take it.

Suddenly all the lights went out, leaving him in pitch black, strapped to a table. Seemed like the power had gone out, even with his help.

Or, he thought hopefully…. Someone was on their way to rescue him.

Now able to use his powers freely, Gambit concentrated on forming a charge through his fatigue, and melted the leather straps off his wrists, then did the same for the ones on his feet.

"Gambit!" he heard a celestial voice call out through the darkness, echoing off the walls.

He froze in his tracks. That sounded like his _Chere_!

"Gambit, I know you can hear me… come in, you low-life swamp rat!"

Gambit lit a card above his head to see and went to a control panel to his left, and grabbed the nearest thing that resembled a comm. device.

"Chere!" he said excitedly, looking up at the above camera so she would be sure to see his smug grin. "It almost sound like you miss me…"

-

"Remy!" Rogue said excitedly after hearing his familiar accent respond back through the speaker.

"God, when I get my _hands_ on you…You _stupid_ little…" Rogue growled into her comm., watching Gambit on the screen with his stupid little smile all over his face.

"Ooh," Gambit's voice flooded through a bit of static. "I like the sound of that…"

"I found Logan!" Shadowcat announced. "He's heading straight for Gambit. It's not far—let's go!"

-

"There is a mutant problem at base," one sentinel informed some of the others, and turned to go back to take care of it.

"Oh, no you don't."

Storm flew high into the air, conjuring all the lightning she could manage and raining it down on the machines. But for every one she took down, five more rose up in its place. These models had flight capabilities, obviously, and flew circles around her like a swarm of angry killer bees.

Down below, the rest of them weren't doing much better. Iceman was standing behind a large cargo crate with Angel, panting for loss of breath. He wondered if there were limits to how much ice one man could form out of the air.

Iceman jumped out from behind the crate bravely to fire an ice beam to one coming right at him—but at a moment too late.

Colossus yelled for his fallen friend with worry, slamming through the leg of another sentinel to get to him. Colossus safely handed Iceman off to Angel, but at the cost of himself getting shot with a gust of gas and taken down. The sentinels must have realized it was the only way to stop the steel-plated boy.

"Smart robots," Angel commented, impressed.

But he knew they had completely overstayed their welcome here. It was time to go, before they all were shot to pieces.

"Storm!" Angel called up to her. "We have to retreat— we're surrounded! We have to go while there's still time left!"

She shot a strong gust of wind to blow a few more machines into each other. She knew he was right. Though how much it pained her to admit it, they had to leave Wolverine and the others behind. It encouraged her to remember that he was more than capable of taking care of himself, not to mention he had a healing factor going for him. Also, Rogue had the invulnerability. But she still worried for Shadowcat, even though the girl was practically unshootable. Both the girls were still young and inexperienced.

She prayed to God Logan was looking after them.

**-**

**A bit of a scatter-brained chapter. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	14. The Great Escape

-

Beast gazed at the brightly colored gems with a large magnifying glass, looking upon the jewels with wonder and curiosity. Such values these rocks surely held, but he couldn't imagine why they held particular interest to the government. He knew the rumors, listened to the tall tales, but he couldn't truly accept it. Could these be the Jewels of Cytorrak?

Suddenly the gems began to glow, faintly at first, then more vivid by the moment.

"Fascinating!" he exclaimed with excited interest.

Beast bent down to write the new findings onto his notepad, when he heard a bumping noise on the ceiling above that made him freeze. It had come from the floor above him, which could only mean one thing:

Someone was in the mansion.

-

Wolverine slashed through the thick steel door with his claws, having been directed to this very room as being the hold for the Cajun. Once the door was completely demolished, he entered the dark room slowly and cautiously. It was like entering oblivion, with the only light coming from the doorway he had just come through. Otherwise he couldn't see his hand in front of him.

Suddenly Wolverine found a bright square light in his face, quickly recognizing it as one of Gambit's cards.

"Hey, it's _me_, moron," Wolverine assured him impatiently. "Let's get out of here."

"I'm with you," Gambit agreed, tossing the useless card over his shoulder, letting it disintegrate into dust before it even touched the ground. Gambit easily kept at Logan's heels as the Wolverine retraced his path through the winding halls.

"Where's the rest of the rescue squad?" Gambit wondered.

As if on cue, Rogue and Shadowcat suddenly phased through a wall ahead of them. Shadowcat looked very courageous, having single-minded determination on the mission at hand, but she, like Rogue, was relieved to be reunited with their more experienced teammate.

"Ah!" Gambit exclaimed happily at the sight of Rogue. "Hey there, Chere! How you--"

"Yeah, yeah, save it," Wolverine commanded him rudely, then turned to Rogue and Shadowcat. "Any of you get info on how Storm's doing?"

"They sent all of the sentinels out on them, Logan!" Rogue explained with worry.

"It's true," Shadowcat confirmed. "We saw it in a security watchroom, but that was about ten minutes ago. By now, either they've left us behind already, or…"

"Then we'd better get moving," Wolverine decided. "Com'on."

Rogue ran beside Wolverine, as Shadowcat and Gambit trailed behind. Gambit could've sped on faster than the rest of them, easily, but he couldn't help but enjoy the view of Rogue from behind much better. He winced at the lovely sight and shook his head approvingly as he gazed upon the tight leather uniform that fit so nicely around Rogue's bottom.

Shadowcat noticed this and chuckled, which quickly distracted Gambit's attention to her.

"What's so funny?" he ask curiously.

"Don't even think about it," she warned in a low voice so that Wolverine and Rogue wouldn't hear. "Rogue's powers came back."

"I know," he said with a fond smile. "I did it. She seemed rather lost without 'em, so I lent a helpin' hand."

"Wow, talk about ironic," Shadowcat laughed even more. "_You're_ the one that wants her and _you're_ the one that murdered your chances with her."

"Come again?" Gambit asked.

"Oh, my God! This is too much! You don't know what powers Rogue _possessed_, do you?"

Gambit only looked back with confusion, and perhaps a little fear, and shook his head no.

"Rogue sucks the energy out of whomever she touches," Shadowcat giggled once more, seeming to find his imminent distress amusing. "That means absolutely _no_ skin-to-skin contact from her _whatsoever_. At all, nil, nada, zip, zilch-- _none_."

Gambit suddenly stopped running. His face rapidly pitfalled, expressing complete and utter horror. His eyes bugged from his head, and he made a series of small gasps as if he couldn't get air into his lungs.

Wolverine and Rogue stopped when they ceased to hear running footsteps behind them, and looked to Gambit's frozen statue.

"What's wrong?" Rogue demanded of him. "Let's go— we ain't got all day!"

"I think he's going to need a minute," Shadowcat informed them.

-

Storm was a little reluctant to retreat, even though she knew it was best for the team. She couldn't help but linger as long as she could, looking to the door Wolverine and the others had entered though, hoping they would exit back out to them now. Ideally with the Cajun among them.

But she couldn't survive on hoping.

"Storm, com'on now, let's go!" Angel called to her once more, as he tried to awaken Colossus's unconscious form.

"Just one more minute!" she called back, willing in her mind for that certain door to open again. If only they had a little more time…

"Com'_on_, Logan!" she hissed through her teeth.

-

Beast quickly scrambled around his lab in evacuation, grabbing whatever he could lay his hands on and stuffing them into a brown tote bag. As for the jewels, he safely tucked them into a leather pouch and placed them in the pocket of his white lab coat, before heading for the emergency exit. He could hear the elevator heading down to this underground floor, and he made haste to the hanger. Using his ape-like abilities, he climbed up the piping on the walls to get out through the jet opening in the basketball courts.

"Look!" he heard that young boy they called Pyro call after him. "He's escaping!"

The burly fellow called the Juggernaut slammed his fist into the hanger control panel, which made the opening above him begin to close once more.

Beast hurried to climb even more urgently, knowing if only he could go a little faster he just might make it…

"He's going to get through!" Juggernaut announced. "_Burn_ the damn furball!"

Pryo clicked the cartridge to the lighter fluid tank connected to his back, and let the liquid zip through the tubes attached to his arms and ignite a flame in each of his hands. Yelling excitedly, he burst a ball of flame toward Beast, who was currently hopping from one pipe to another. When Pyro missed, he shot another, letting the flame stream from his hands, even letting himself have a bit of fun making the flames shift into the shape of a charging horse.

Beast saw the flame coming, but was almost there. There was just a little space left, just enough for him to squeeze through, which he hurriedly did, just as the flame was blocked by the closed hanger doors.

"We'll get him from the outside," Pyro vowed. "Com'on."

Beast ran on his knuckles and feet like a gorilla, but caught himself as he did so, and corrected himself to run upright on two feet like a normal human being.

Beast ran a good distance from the mansion, before he heard a voice in the distance that made him stop to hide.

It was that blond psychic woman, who called to Magneto exclaiming:

"There's a mutant close."

Beast knew he couldn't hide long from a psychic, but for now Xavier's tombstone provided a good cover. He looked upon the picture of Charles with sorrow and regret.

"Well, old man," he said. "I'm glad you didn't live to see your mansion fall, at the very least."

What Beast worried for most was not his own life, but for the jewels in his coat pocket. Surely these could not go in the wrong hands, or the consequences could be dire.

Then he spied the memorials of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, and had an idea.

-

"Over here, Erik," Emma Frost directed her superior, pointing to the tombstones of Cyclops, Phoenix, and Xavier. "The mutant is here."

Magneto stepped forward, spotting the blue furry foot of his intelligent prey.

"Why not step out where we can see you, Mr. McCoy?" Magneto said with amusement. "I'm sure with a little cooperation we can avoid any unpleasantries. I thought there was no one home, but I guess they needed someone around to tend to the comatose woman in the infirmary."

Magneto smirked when he received no reply.

"But that's not the _only_ reason you stayed behind, is it?" Magneto guessed. "Tell me, my mutant brother. Where are you all keeping the jewels?"

"I'm afraid my cooperation can only go as far as my knowledge, Mr. Lensherr," Beast replied from behind the large stone.

"So you claim ignorance," Magneto observed with displeasure. "You disappoint me, Mr. McCoy."

Magneto turned to Emma Frost for confirmation of Beast's innocence, at which she promptly replied:

"I sense that he's lying, but I can't probe his mind to find where he put them. All I hear is this annoying song…"

"Oh, very clever, Mr. McCoy!" Magneto said with approval. "You keep the psychic out of your mind by thinking only of some ridiculous song. Which means we shall have to sink to a final resort…"

Magneto signaled to Emma, who stepped closer to the tombstone, preparing to psychically attack him with her telekinesis.

"Tell me, Mr. McCoy," Magneto asked calmly. "How do you respond to threats?"

**-**

**My goodness, you all are just too amazing! This is a record for me, this story now being at 206 reviews and 24,507 hits! Doesn't anyone else find that _insane_? And _awesome_? Did I mention that I love you all? Sorry this chapter was a bit short, but there's more coming soon. Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	15. Resurrection

A/N: Dang! Between college and work and sleep, I've hardly had time to breathe, let alone write. But I shall prevail! Sorry for the wait.

-

Chapter 15:

-

Wolverine, Shadowcat, and Gambit ran down the halls, while Rogue resorted to flying with them. They spotted the door in the distance, but Shadowcat was the first to notice that Gambit took a wrong turn.

"Where are you going?" she called after him.

"I gotta make a little stop!"

"This is no time for bathroom breaks--" Logan insisted. "Storm is out there getting her ass handed to her!"

"That's why I'm off to help her out!"

"But…" Rogue protested, but didn't finish.

"I'll go with him," Logan said. "You guys go out there and help Storm!"

Rogue and Shadowcat nodded and left out the door, while Logan, who was rather annoyed at this guy that insisted on not being properly rescued, ran off to see what he was doing.

He caught him just in time as he blasted through a nearby wall and into a large control center. Gambit ran, planted his bow in the ground and used it to hurl himself into a sitting guard, kicking him in the back. Hard.

Logan watched as he rubbed his hands together and placed them on the console, charging it until the entire thing glowed yellow.

"You'd better step back, _mon ami_," he advised, running past him back into the hall. Sensing what was about to happen, Logan ran at the Cajun's heels, barely clearing way from the large explosion that followed.

-

Storm tried to push back the sentinel from completely crushing her, but it was powering through. Even if she got loose, she knew she was surrounded, with no escape. Rogue and Shadowcat had arrived just in time to see them flood out by the hundreds. They were too late. It was no use now.

Suddenly, all robots froze, and plummeted to the ground, crashing and exploding one by one. They fell from the sky like freshly shot birds. Angel barely managed to avoid being crushed by one that dropped from above him.

"I don't understand!"

"It's like they're all dead!" Rogue observed. But that wasn't all of their worries. They spotted the building the girl had just exited from not minutes before, explode in a large cloud. Then the next section went up in flames, and the next, starting a chain reaction that eventually obliterated the entire right wing.

"Oh, my God," Rogue breathed. "_Gambit_!"

Shadowcat gave her a funny look so Rogue quickly added:

"And Logan!"

To extinguish her worry, Logan's claws slashed through the side of the building, and ran through his new doorway with Gambit right behind him.

The team ran up to regroup with them, thankful they were all still alive. Wolverine stood off to the side as Rogue flew up to Gambit, throwing her hands around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Then, looking at his face directly, she slapped him very suddenly.

"I _hate_ you!" she said angrily. Then she hugged him again.

Gambit, looking utterly confused, threw his hands up in frustration.

"I do not under_stand_ this woman…"

"Rogue, get away from him," Logan commanded her. Everyone, not just Rogue, looked to Logan in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

Logan grabbed Gambit by the scruff and pulled him over to his face with one hand.

"You want to tell me what you're trying to pull, bub?"

"_Perdon_?" Gambit asked, this time glaring in confusion.

"How did you know where the control room was?" Logan demanded. "You went _right_ to it. How could you know that… unless you've been there before?"

"Of _course_ Gambit's been dere befo', _mon ami_," he replied, shoving Logan's hand away from his collar. "That's where I thieved them pretty jewels from."

"No memory could recall that from one visit in the dark of the night," Logan countered. "I don't trust you."

"_Logan_…" Storm scolded.

"No, it's alright, Stormy," Gambit assured her. "If I had a dollar fo' every time someone said _dat_…"

Even still, Storm passed Logan a warning _look_. Gambit was her friend, though she knew not the most trustworthy. Still, there was no need for harsh accusations that was only speculation.

"Gambit, why were they so interested in those jewels?" Storm asked him as they began to walk back to the jet.

"Ya'll didn't look it up?" Gambit said with surprise. "They afraid that we might use them to our benefit. They say those jewels can strengthen yo' powers tenfold and raise up the mutant dead."

Logan whipped his head to the Cajun.

"They can _what_?"

"Dat's just the word on the street," Gambit admitted. "Never actually proven _true_…"

Logan stopped walking for just a moment, to consider this. Did he believe this folk-tale? Raising the mutant dead? It all seemed a little 'too good to be true'…

-

Beast's eyes grew wide as Emma Frost lifted up a headstone with her own mind, preparing to launch it at him. Beast stood complete paralyzed with fear of the imminent pain surely to come.

But that was before the ground below him began to glow.

It was a faint, purple glow at first, but then it progressed into a broad pink light, shooting out of the very pores of the nearby earth. Emma dropped the tombstone in surprise, and Eric even stepped back in fear.

"Mr. McCoy," Magneto said in a low voice. "What did you do with those jewels?"

"I…" but Hank did not finish.

-

Moira McTaggert put her patient's food tray down next to his bed, then sat on the edge. The man that was housing her dearest friend Charles had been sleeping for much too long, and it was time for him to eat. Gently, she shook him in attempt to rouse him. When he did not respond, she shook him harder.

"They have set me free," he whispered behind closed eyes. "They have done it…"

Then he fell limp. That's when the fear set in.

"Charles?" she said with concern, shaking him some more. "Charles!"

But the man would not wake again.

-

Beast, Emma, and Magneto could only watch as the dirt parted in the graves, knocking over the headstones of Scott, Jean, and Xavier. Three figures rose from the earth, lifted into the air, then dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"Oh, my dear God," Beast breathed at the unbelievable sight before him. He walked slowly up to Charles lifeless mound, and pressed his fingers under his old friends neck, feeling for a pulse. He felt one. The same with Jean and Scott.

"Oh my… they are… _alive_…"

"Charles… my old friend…" Magneto whispered in equal disbelief. "You're _back_…"

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	16. Reunion

A/N: THIS… is dedicated to my fellow Syrens: Russia's-Little-Kiska and Jeannie-Redd. May your 'slushies' always be wild cherry and your boyfriend never have STD's. ;)

-

Chapter 16:

-

Storm took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat in the pilot's side of the X-jet. She was glad that ordeal at the sentinel headquarters was over, though sad that they had come out with no more information than when they had gone in. She glanced back at Gambit, recalling Logan's words on if they should trust him. Remy had never been the most stand-up example as a team player, but would he really be leading them, or rather, _her_… into a trap? She concluded the enemy would not go out of their way to forcibly capture a mutant if they were on the same side. But somehow, it wasn't enough to fully convince her. Even back in Cairo where they had first met, she had seen a side of him that no one else would ever know. A bandit, a thief, a liar, and a criminal among the dirtiest scum on the earth. But even still, she vowed to give him the benefit of the doubt, and leave the subject alone until proof surfaced. For now, she was just glad to have him back safely.

Then, the communication link lit up on the panel next to the pilot's controls. Logan frowned in the passenger's side and exchanged glances with her.

"What, Beast is lonely?" he guessed in confusion.

Ororo frowned as well, seemingly even more confused that Logan was.

"It's not Beast…" she breathed. "It's coming from _Cerebro_."

Logan jerked his head up in surprise.

"Ororo…" Professor's voice rang out through the communication link. All manner of previous conversation ceased immediately, and quiet swept over the entire cabin like a wave. Even Gambit, who had never even met the Professor personally, was left in stunned silence.

"Professor," Ororo stumbled over her words. "How…?"

"I will explain everything when you return," he replied. "Jean and Scott shall assist me."

A smile broke through at these words. Involuntary tears of joy rolled down Ororo's face, so that her flying suffered, but she didn't care. Not then. A similar look of surprise mixed with extreme happiness was reflected on Logan's face when their eyes locked back together to speak without saying. Rogue, Kitty, Bobby, and all others gathered around to hear better, beaming grins on all faces.

"Oh, my God…" Logan muttered in disbelief. "Jeannie…?"

Ororo put a hand on Logan's arm understandingly.

"No!" she laughed through her blissful tears. "You're _not_ dreaming!"

-

The X-jet lowered into the almost destroyed hanger bay slowly and gently. Ororo was taking her time as to make sure she didn't land on any form of debris. The brotherhood had sure done a number on this place.

"Com'on, com'on, com'on!" Logan said anxiously, waiting by the door to the jet. "Can't you land this thing any faster?"

"I'm just as excited as you, Logan," Ororo said. "Have patience. It's a virtue."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "You can shove your 'virtues' back where they came from."

"Hey, chere?" Gambit said, pulling on her sleeve with a confused look on his face. "Who be Professor? He dat old guy six feet under out in the lawn?"

"He's the founder of the school, Gambit," Rogue explained. "He was lost in the battle against the Phoenix last summer."

"Who be the Phoenix?"

"Jean Grey. The nurse of the school."

"Ooo, a _nurse_… Is de Phoenix… hot?"

Rogue gave him a _look_ as the plane's door finally opened and Logan rushed out.

"The Phoenix? She's on_ fire_, Gambit," she replied snottily. Bobby snickered behind her, knowing the double meaning in her words. Gambit would never suspect that Rogue meant that _literally_.

Logan rushed to the elevator, and quickly pushed the first floor button without even waiting for the others to catch up. Ororo and the others barely had a chance to squeeze in before the doors closed. Kitty simply phased into the wall, bragging of how she would beat them to the top.

Logan still couldn't wrap his head around it. Jean… alive? He had to see her, those lovely brown eyes, that deep red head of hair… smell her sweet familiar scent. He wasn't one to walk by faith… he had to see her, then he would believe it.

He had thought on a moment just like this one, and played it in his mind over and over again. Never had he thought it would all come true in a single moment, in a single second, making his entire world seem right once more.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. He held his breath, almost expecting her to be there when he arrived. Beast was just walking up with the Professor to greet him.

"Hello, Professor," Logan said to his old teacher. Charles looked up at him from his wheelchair and smiled fondly.

"Logan…" he said, and looked to all the others behind him. "My friends…"

Ororo seized him in a hug, as Logan kept his eyes peeled for Jean. He didn't want to appear too desperate, but he was aching inside to see her.

"She's coming, Logan," Professor said with a knowing smile.

"You look so well!" Ororo complimented the old man, palming his cheeks with a large immobile grin.

"Well, for a dead man, yes…" Charles joked.

"Ororo!" Scott called, jogging up to greet her. They embraced as old friends. When they disconnected, Scott went to Logan next, looking down on him gruffly.

"You're still here?" Scott said harshly. He held out his hand to him courteously.

"Yeah, well," Logan said, taking his offered hand, and glancing at the room around him. "The school was a lot nicer without you around."

"You mean, before or _after_ you killed my girl?" Even though his eyes were hidden behind his shades, Logan knew he was glaring.

"Be_fore_," Logan replied sharply, stepping a little closer to the taller man's face. "Want to see how I did it? Keep talkin', bub-- I'll give you the hands-on for _free_."

"Still the same old Logan…" said a female voice to Logan's right.

It was a voice he would recognize anywhere. His head whipped toward the woman he had been waiting so long to see, letting his eyes rake over her greedily. Her hair was still in a long trail around her, pulled back into a low ponytail. She didn't wear anything special, just casual clothes, yet she was the most beautiful sight he had seen in a long, long time.

"Hi, Logan," she said in her sweet way. While the others were busy greeting the Professor, Scott watched Logan like a hawk to catch his reaction to her. He could only wonder what had gone on while he wasn't around…

Logan cleared his throat loudly, not knowing what to do or say. He _was_ the one that had killed her in the first place, after all. How did she even feel about that? Did she understand? Did she forgive?

A simple, fond smile toward him told all. She knew what he was thinking without even entering his mind. She nodded to let him know that all was forgotten.

"I don't believe we've met," Charles said, holding his hand out for Remy. The Cajun shook it obligingly.

"De name's Gambit," he replied shortly. "And I already know you."

"Yes, of course," Charles nodded understandingly, then stared at him for a moment, as if studying him.

"And don't even try to get up in here," Gambit said, tapping his temple. "You can't."

"I sensed that," Charles replied with a nod. "But I do not enter into people's mind's without their consent, I assure you."

Gambit seemed nervous, which confused Rogue, who was observing nearby. Did he have things in his mind he was anxious to keep hidden? It aroused a certain suspicion with her as well, though she hated to admit it. For some reason, she didn't _want_ to think badly of Gambit anymore. He'd been through enough, for her to add to it by being harsh to him.

"Well," Professor said, as Scott threw his arm around Jean territorially, just to spite Logan. "I imagine you all have a lot of questions that need answering, as do we. As a matter of fact I was in the middle of a similar conversation in the parlor just before you came… with Erik Lensherr."

"Magneto?" Ororo said in surprise. "What's he doing here?"

"He witnessed my resurrection, and I must say he knows more about it than any of us here."

-

"You're saying some magic _jewels_ did this?" Logan said, leaning forward in his chair with interest. Henry nodded, and Logan smirked. "Well, _now_ I've heard _every_thing."

The entire teams, both Brotherhood and X-Man, were scattered around in the parlor room, and needless to say, some were not too thrilled by the other's presence. Bobby and John were glaring cold and fiery enough to live up to their mutant power. The blond psychic was casting flirtatious looks toward Scott, who was pretending not to notice. Jean was not liking this one bit. Wolverine didn't like looking so small in comparison to the Juggernaut, standing upright next to his seat.

Gambit, who was standing near the couch, piped up next.

"So dese be the same jewels Gambit snatched— ahem, I mean, _borrowed_… from dose cats back at the robot factory?"

"The same," Henry confirmed. "Their power is ancient… with tales of it going back all the way to the days of pharaohs. But I never in a million years expected it to have _resurrection_ capabilities."

"These jewels are a benefit to mutantkind," Erik insisted. "We need to stop chattering on the subject and get to using them to their fullest potential."

"Which would be…?" Kitty asked.

"Using them to amplify our power, of course. I have a feeling they may restore what was lost to us."

"They're not some genie you can rub and your wish will come true," Ororo insisted.

"On the contrary," Henry countered. "On this particular matter he is correct. These jewels do possess the power to bring up the full energy potentials found in X-genes. From what I gather, they could very well make the entire race of mutants up to a level 5 status. That is probably why the government doesn't want them in our hands. To think of what would be the result of such a transformation… it would surely be catastrophic."

The Professor rubbed his chin in deep thought, and several team members looked to him expectantly, wondering what his opinions were on all that was transpiring.

"An entire race of Chaos Mutants…" he breathed.

"'Chaos Mutants'?" Logan repeated. "Wait, what are those?"

"Mutants born with powers so great and destructive they could wipe out entire nations. We've all already witnessed a few in our time."

Eyes were drawn to Jean, who looked at the floor with shame.

"And some, we have yet to witness…"

The Professor's gaze was next placed on none other than Remy Lebeau, who frowned in confusion.

"Who-- little ol' me?"

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


	17. The Registration Act

**A/N: I don't take much credit for this chapter, seeing as a couple of lines and circumstances stem from the 90's cartoon. See if you can spot them… and enjoy!**

-

Chapter 17:

-

"_Thousands of mutants all over the country have already been registered into the government files…_ _Who knew there were so many…"_

"We've been duped," Ororo announced, crossing her arms at the newscast. "Thousands of unsuspecting mutants registering themselves to be killed. You know those files will go straight to the sentinels mainframe."

"Not after we set their production back a few years," Logan countered.

"That was just one base," Ororo said. "There could be more of them out there, and these government trusting mutants are just making themselves targets."

"We are so close to war I can almost smell the blood of mutants already," Scott piped up.

"Close?" Logan scoffed. "Four-eyes, we are IN it right _now_! You missed a lot while you were taking a dirt nap. Shoulda stayed there, if you ask me."

"_Logan_," Jean said through her teeth. "May I have a word?"

-

Jean sighed as they stepped out onto the balcony of the mansion, overlooking the tennis courtyards and the gardens.

"You have to stop doing this," Jean said, shaking her head with frustration. "This feud between you and Scott…"

"It's just feeling a little like old times around here," Logan muttered. "What, with everyone being back. Not to mention what happened when you were Phoenix."

"It would be best if you forget what happened between us while the Phoenix controlled me," Jean said, gazing her big doe eyes up at Logan desperately. "You have to understand, that wasn't me…"

"Excuse me," Logan frowned angrily, not meeting her gaze. "For a minute there, I thought it was _real_. Another side of you, sure, but it was still you, so don't feed me that crap."

Jean looked at him with great sorrow.

"I'm sorry…" she faded out and didn't finish. In her unease she began to fiddle with a finger on her left hand. On that finger, was a gold ring.

"Have you two set the date yet?" Logan said, pointing to the ring. Jean frowned, and sighed in shame.

"August fourteenth," she replied.

"That soon, huh?"

"We of all people should know that it's now or never."

Logan nodded understandingly. Jean started for the door, but was stopped by Logan's low voice saying her name:

"Jean?"

She couldn't bear his tone. She couldn't stick around for a moment longer, lest she make the same mistakes with him again. It was time.

"I-- I have to go…" she whispered, her throat clenching through her words, making them almost impossible to force out. "Scott… he's waiting for me."

Logan sighed and looked out the window.

"That makes two of us."

Jean decided it best to pretend she didn't hear that, and hurried out the door without another word feeling more terrible inside than she had ever felt before. She had done the right thing… she knew it. She couldn't lead him on anymore. It was only fair to let it go. Fair for them both.

-

_"Mr. President, the mutant community is in an uproar to the 'search and destroy' technology that has been sighted all over the New England and Southern states. These 'sentinels' have a body count of over two hundred, all possessing the mutant X-gene. What is your reaction to this so-called 'mutant massacre'?"_

"_Well, my concern is great as though I were a mutant myself. The mutant community can rest assured that this is not an act of the government, but of a private, separate party that will face serious consequences once they are found. We are doing our best night and day to track down the suspects we have, and won't rest until this matter is put to an end."_

"Yeah, except their military can't do nothing against them," Kitty commented to Piotr, pointing at the presidential press conference broadcasting on the rec room television. Thankfully, it was one of the few rooms that had survived the sentinel attack. Piotr hummed his obliging agreement, while concentrating on whatever he was drawing in his sketchbook. Frowning at his lack of interest, Kitty sought conversation elsewhere. She turned her attention to Rogue, sprawled out on a nearby armchair.

"What do you think, Rogue? Think the president's behind the sentinels?"

"I figure if he was, he'd of passed the Registration Act. Beast worked with him, even. He's not in on it."

Remy entered the room gallantly, with his head high and his strut obvious.

"It is Gambit's opinion dat some project dat big could not have escaped Mr. President's notice. Maybe it not his fault, but I wouldn't let him completely off da hook. But politics bore Remy to death… Chere?"

He turned on his heel to Rogue, and leaned over the back of her armchair to stare her upside-down.

"You. Me. Pool?"

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Just so you can see me in a bathing suit? Dream on."

Kitty giggled, but stifled it quickly out of respect. Remy was by no means discouraged.

"Oh, Chere, as wonderful an idea as dat sound, alas, Gambit not dat clever as to coerce you into such. He simply meant billiards."

He lifted up a cue stick that he was holding in his hand as hopeful proof of his honesty.

Rogue evaluated his motives, squinting at him suspiciously. After a moment, she shrugged it away, even letting out a small smile.

"Why not."

-

"_Mutant genecist Nathaniel Essex had this to say…"_

"_Mutants are a mystery, but that should only inspire more study. They are the birth of progress. We should harness their evolutionary gifts to the benefit of mankind."_

"_Are you suggesting testing on mutants? In order to turn them into slaves?"_

"_I am a mutant myself. I wouldn't promote something I feel would only enslave me or my kind. I only speak of helping our world."_

Professor put his hands together in a ball under his chin, very deep in thought.

"Well, come out with it, Charles. What is on that broad mind of yours?" Erik insisted on knowing his friend's opinions of the worldwide debate that had been on every channel for hours. Every television in the mansion had it blaring out loud. Charles stared at the large screen inside the picture frame on the wall. His study had been moved underground in light of the ground level of the mansion's destruction. Charles's silence was deafening to his old friend.

"I know this man," Charles finally said. "I have met and talked with him on many occasions and I was assured that he was not a mutant at the time."

"So, he is a counterfeit. I'll be the first to admit it odd someone would lie _into_ persecution but it's hardly a concern of ours."

"I took an interest after he had openly spoken of gems he had discovered in Korea that had profound effects on the mutant race. It seems ironic that those gems turn up here, bringing me back to consciousness and Scott and Jean back to life. And now he claims to have mutant powers himself."

"Kane Marko, one of my Brotherhood who calls himself the Juggernaut, also claimed to be human once, and to have come in contact with a magical red rock that made him the man he was today."

"It's just too coincidental," Charles said, staring at the unnaturally pale skinned, black haired man on the television. "Those gems are much important than I first gave them credit for."

"In mere hours they vote on the Registration Act…" Erik stepped up close to Charles's chrome desk. "And with thousands of mutants getting their powers returned after the Cure's failure, there will be chaos. It is as we feared, Charles… So what will be your next move?"

-

"Nice move, Chere," Remy commented after Rogue took another bad miss, losing terribly to Remy, who was, by no surprise, a pool shark. His teasing wasn't making concentration come any easier.

"Take another go at it," Remy offered. Rogue was happy for the charity, leaning over to line up another shot. A quick glance at her bent over position, and Remy took a chance and leaned down by her ear.

"Or maybe ya just need a li'l more _incentive_. How 'bout… the winner gets a kiss from da loser?"

Unable to concentrate with Gambit's tauntings, Rogue took another foul miss. Infuriated, she stomped her cue on the ground, making Piotr and Kitty jerk their heads up to pay attention.

"Damnit, that's cheatin'!"

"You forfeit then? Look like Gambit wins."

"Do you know what will happen when I touch you, lowlife?" Rogue said, getting in his face heatedly.

"Gambit is _dyin'_ to find out," Remy smiled right back in that certain way.

Rogue growled furiously, stepping dangerously close to his face.

"Rogue, be careful!" Kitty shouted in worry, anxiously rising to her feet.

"It would serve you right if I gave you a kiss," Rogue threatened. "Wipe that cocky smirk off your face. Now, before I put you in a coma and make you join Carol for indefinite naptime in the medical lab, you'd best take your turn, Swamp Rat."

Gambit took a contented sigh in her face, looking at her as if he found her pitifully amusing. He took a gentle step back, and did as he was told.

But as Gambit leaned down to make another shot, Piotr smiled at Rogue, making his leg go steel-plated. Just as Gambit took his shot, Piotr stomped his foot into the floorboards underfoot, causing Gambit to lose his balance and the winning shot.

"Peter," Ororo said from the doorway. "Just because it's called a 'rec' room, doesn't mean you should 'wreck' it."

"Since when do you make jokes, Stormy?" Remy said with deep disappointment, tossing the cue stick onto the offending pool table.

"The Professor and I would like a word with you, Gambit," Storm informed him. "Quickly, if you please. It's important."

**-**

**Please review.  
Signed,  
--RedRogue**


End file.
